Put the champagne on ice.
The reigning World Series Champions refused to go down without a fight as the Chicago Cubs held on to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2, in Game 4 of the NLCS at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night.
Javier Baez hit two home runs, and Willson Contreras added a mammoth shot of his own as the Cubs managed to stave off elimination, avoiding the sweep, and forcing a game five on Thursday night.
"We don't expect anyone to lay down," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts following the loss. "They're the world champs, and you know they're going to fight to the end."
For the second straight night, the wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field and the Cubs go as the wind blows, as Contreras put them on the board first for the fourth consecutive game, when he crushed a 90MPH fastball from Alex Wood, 491-feet onto Waveland Avenue in the second inning.
The monster home run was Contreras' second of the postseason, and the longest ever recorded in Cubs' postseason history.
However, the Cubs weren't finished as two batters later, it was Javier Baez's turn to park a ball onto Waveland when he hammered an 83MPH curveball from Wood down the left field line.
The home run was Baez's first hit of the postseason, and it broke an 0-for-20 postseason slump for the second baseman, the second longest in franchise history behind only Jimmy Sheckard who went 0-for-21 in 1906.
"I've been trying to get a base hit so hard," Baez said of his slump. "Tonight, I just said to myself, 'not try too much,' and I didn't, and there you have it. I had two good contacts and win the game by one run."
Cody Bellinger responded for the Boys in Blue in the top half of the third inning. Bellinger blasted a 90MPH slider from Jake Arrieta off his own picture on the videoboard in right field, and the Dodgers were on the scoreboard.
"He threw a cutter or a slider and left it up," Bellinger said of his home run. "I just tried to put the barrel on it, and luckily it barely got out."
Baez bashed his second home run of the game in the bottom half of the fifth inning, when he clobbered am 84 MPH changeup from Wood into the left field pavilion.
"His entire game is spectacular," said Cubs' manager Joe Maddon. "When young guys like that really struggle, you've got to stay with him. It was a really good matchup for him tonight. He took advantage of it, give him a lot of credit."
After his trot around the bases, Baez came out for a curtain call, much to the jubilee of the wild and raucous Wrigley Field crowd.
Wood entered the game with a record of 1-0 with a 1.04 ERA against the Cubs this season, but did not make it out of the fifth inning in his first career postseason start.
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Wood (0-1) surrendered three runs—all by home run—on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in 4 and 2/3 innings.
"I thought my stuff was pretty good," said Wood following the loss. "Two mistakes early. I gave up two solo shots. Besides that, I thought my stuff was pretty good. It sucks that we took our first 'L' tonight, it was a tough game."
Arrieta (1-1) turned back the clock to his Cy Young Award winning season of 2015 as he kept the Dodgers in check for most of the night.
The Missouri native allowed just one run on three hits with five walks and nine strikeouts in six and 2/3 innings of work.
"I thought the movement on the pitches was spectacular," said Maddon of Arrieta. "I could see the movement from the side. That's what I was basing it off of. More than anything, I'm watching their reaction to his pitches and the swings and misses, the ball was moving that much."
In elimination games, Arrieta is a perfect 3-0 with a 1.25 ERA and 29 strikeouts in his career.
Cubs' closer Wade Davis made his first appearance in the series when he entered the game in the eighth inning for a six-out save.
Davis was promptly greeted by Game 2 hero, Justin Turner, who absolutely destroyed a 94MPH fastball that hit the scoreboard above the bleachers in left-center field to cut the Cubs lead to one.
"Unfortunately, we just fell a little bit short tonight," said Turner after the game. "It was well pitched on both sides, they just hit one more homer than we did."
The Dodgers managed to put the tying run in scoring position, but Curtis Granderson and Chase Utley both struck out to end the inning.
"He changed speeds very well and worked both sides of the plate," said Granderson about Davis. "He did everything he needed to in order to make sure his team won tonight."
Davis was able to retire the side in the top half of the ninth, earning his first save of the series, and saving the Cubs season for at least one more day.
Unfortunately, it took Davis a career-high 48 pitches to do it, making him unavailable to pitch if need be on Thursday in Game 5.
"Other guys got to do it," said Maddon of who he might use as his closer in Game 5. "We have to be much more offensive. It's got to start happening tomorrow. We're going to do this. Going to pull this off, we have to become more offensive tomorrow."
All five runs in the game came via solo home run, and every run the Cubs have scored in the series has come via the home run. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Cubs are the first team in MLB history to have all of their runs in the first four games of a series come via home runs.
The Dodgers led the Major Leagues with 47 comebacks this season, but were unable to complete their fourth consecutive come-from-behind victory on Wednesday night.
The Dodgers will have to wait at least one more day to earn their first World Series berth since 1988, and capture their 22nd National League pennant in the process.
The Dodgers franchise record six-game postseason winning streak was snapped.
Only one team has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, but the Cubs are looking to join the 2004 Boston Red Sox as the second team in history to win four consecutive games to steal a league championship series.
Up Next:
The Dodgers will look to close out the series in Game 5 at Wrigley Field on Thursday as Clayton Kershaw heads to the mound against LHP Jose Quintana. First pitch is scheduled for 5:08PM PST
