LOS ANGELES—The Dodgers (5-4) are back over .500 following a win at Wrigley field versus the Chicago Cubs. The day was meant to be a celebration as the Cubs received their championship jewelry from last years World Series victory. The party was crashed by the arm of Brandon McCarthy (2-0) and the bat of Andrew Toles.

Toles got the Dodgers party started early with a lead off home run against veteran John Lackey, who had a long first inning. Although he only gave up one run, he had to throw 32 pitches throughout the inning in order to keep the Dodgers from scoring more. Lackey skillfully avoided disaster as the Dodgers loaded the bases on him, but only scored with the Toles lead off homer. Lackey left the game after the 6th inning, giving up one run and four hits on 102 pitches with 10 strikeouts and only three walks. A decent outing, unfortunately for him, his run support was anything but decent.

McCarthy, who is coming back from Tommy John surgery, made sure the Cubs couldn’t get the runs they needed to support Lackey. He surrendered no runs while giving up an intermittent four hits throughout his six innings of play. He was able to force double plays in the first, fourth and sixth innings, which helped keep the Cubs off the board.

The Dodgers were able to add to their lead in the 9th inning thanks to an exciting play by Chase Utley. After a pitch got away from Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras, his throw to first base was off target. Utley, who was leading off first base at the outset of the play, made it all the way to home plate. After a collision with Contreras, who had to leave thereafter, Utley was called safe and the Dodgers sported a 2-0 lead that was never relinquished. After the game Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praised Utley for the exciting play.

“There’s probably [only] a handful of Major League players that would have [scored],” Roberts said. “It’s just the attention to detail and the care.”

The Cubs will be looking to avenge this loss tomorrow as Brett Anderson, making his first ever start for the Cubs, will take the mound. The Dodgers will give Hyun-Jin Ryu the start. He will be looking to win his first game of the season, after losing to the Rockies last week.

Written By John Broadway