Cubs edge Dodgers on celebratory night at Wrigley Field

CHICAGO >> For 108 years, we all suspected it would be a cold day … somewhere when the Chicago Cubs played a home game as defending World Series champions.

The Cubs celebrated last year’s historic title before Monday’s home opener at Wrigley Field with a ceremony that featured a familiar theme for Cubs fans – deferred gratification. Rain storms passing through the area delayed the start of the championship banner-raising festivities by nearly two hours, giving the home team ample time to play a condensed version of their NLCS Game 6 victory over the Dodgers on the scoreboard video screen and a plea to vote for former Cub catcher David Ross on “Dancing with the Stars.”

By the time the game started just after 9 p.m. locally, the temperature had dropped to 41 degrees with a wind chill of 36. It was the second consecutive day of challenging weather for the Dodgers and they did not handle it as well as Sunday’s heavy winds at Coors Field. But they had company.

Errors proved critical for both teams in a game that rolled past midnight tied until Anthony Rizzo’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Cubs a 3-2 victory over the Dodgers.

Dodgers starter Alex Wood walked five in 3-2/3 innings. One of those walks shouldn’t have happened. With two outs in the third inning, Kyle Schwarber lofted a fly ball down the right field line. Yasiel Puig came running and was poised to catch the ball in foul territory near the new stands that replaced one of the former on-field bullpens.

But the ball clanked off Puig’s glove and into the seats near the new stands that replaced one of the former on-field bullpens. The error gave Schwarber new life with a 1-and-2 count and he drew a walk when Wood couldn’t relocate the strike zone.

Schwarber scored the first run of the game when Kris Bryant followed with a two-out double.

An inning later, Wood contributed to his own troubles again. After giving up back-to-back singles to start the inning, Wood’s pickoff throw to second base skipped into center field, allowing the runners to advance. After a pop out and an intentional walk, a second Cubs run scored on a forceout when Justin Turner smothered Jon Lester’s ground ball and threw to second – a play that had to be overturned on replay review.

The Cubs’ defense took longer to crack.

Lester held the Dodgers to four hits in six chilly innings. But they got to him for a run on Corey Seager’s RBI double in the sixth inning.

They had the tying run at third that inning and stranded four baserunners in scoring position in the sixth and seventh before Cubs shortstop Addison Russell made the kind of play seen all too often at Wrigley Field during the Cubs’ 108-year drought.

A leadoff single by Logan Forsythe and a pitch that clipped Turner put two runners on with one out. Pinch-hitter Chase Utley hit a ground ball to first baseman Anthony Rizzo who threw to second for the forceout. With Turner on him and Utley nearly at first base, Russell inexplicably tried to turn a double play with pitcher Koji Uehara covering first base. Russell’s throw bounced wildly past first, allowing Forsythe to trot home with the tying run as midnight approached.

Advertisement

The Cubs untied it against Sergio Romo and Kenley Jansen in the bottom of the ninth. Pinch-hitter Jon Jay led off with a single off Romo, moved into scoring position on a ground out and then stole third base as Jansen struck out Bryant. But Rizzo sliced an opposite-field single for the walk-off winner.