Dodgers bullpen can't contain Cubs offense as Chicago completes sweep of Los Angeles

CHICAGO -- A replay from last night's game and another frustrating loss for the Boys in Blue as they drop Wednesday's contest by one run, a 7-6 final score, and get swept for the first time this season. Seven pitchers were used in this bullpen game for Los Angeles, started by Ben Casparius, but Cubs hitters again dismantled the Dodgers' bullpen and had no answer for newly appointed Dodgers killer, Peter Crow-Armstrong. After losing the first three appearances against Los Angeles, the Cubs have outscored the Dodgers 31-12 in the last four games and take the season series 4-3. 

Deja vu as the Dodgers begin the scoring between both clubs. 

Michael Conforto started off the top of the third with a free pass, and back-to-back singles from Austin Barnes and Shohei Ohtani set up Teoscar Hernandez with the bases full of Dodgers. He capitalized on a 2-2 fastball that drove in two runs, and Los Angeles was ahead 2-0. 

Chicago followed suit in the bottom of the fourth as with newcomer Noah Davis on the mound. He quickly fell into trouble by allowing a single to Dansby Swanson and walking Nico Hoerner to set up Crow-Armstrong with two on and no out. A 2-0 sinker that looked like it was going to spike in the dirt was picked up by Crow-Armstrong 367 feet and landed in the baskets of left-center field to put the Windy City up 3-2. 

The Dodgers' offense fought back in the fifth as after a leadoff single by Miguel Rojas, Mookie Betts would drive him in with an RBI double to tie the game, and Hernandez would launch a two-run home run on a first-pitch slider to regain the lead 5-3. 

No lead was safe during this two-game series, as in the Cubs' bottom half of the fifth after three straight walks to begin the inning, Swanson ambushed Jack Dreyer's first pitch slider and singled up the middle, which drove in Kyle Tucker and Justin Turner to tie the game up 5-5. 

Hoerner would hit a sac fly in the next at-bat to add insurance to Chicago's lead and Crow-Armstrong would add the exclamation point in this inning by hitting an RBI single that drove in Swanson to push the Cubs' lead, 7-5. 

The only bit of sunlight that was showcased during this series for the Dodgers was the production from Andy Pages, as he crushed a 1-1 changeup for his fourth home run of the season and inched the Dodgers closer, 7-6 in the top half of the sixth.

The Cubs' bullpen would take care of the Dodgers for the next three innings as Los Angeles drops the two-game series and gets swept in the process. The Dodgers, now 16-9, have an off day tomorrow as they travel back home to Chavez Ravine to host the Pittsburgh Pirates for a three-game weekend series starting Friday that will showcase a must-see pitching matchup as Dodgers' ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto will take the mound against the Pirates' 22-year-old phenom flamethrower Paul Skenes.