Chicago Cubs Recap: Rizzo, Russell’s home runs lead Cubs to 4-0 win over Dodgers

The Chicago Cubs got home runs from Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell as well as some strong glove work from Albert Almora to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 on Thursday.

The Chicago Cubs got five shutout innings out of their starter Brett Anderson as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0 to win their third consecutive series. Home runs from Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell were more than enough to send the Dodgers home with another series loss at Wrigley Field.

The Dodgers Hyun-Jin Ryu continues to work back from injury and hasn’t been the same pitcher since the injury a few years ago. Rizzo wasted no time in sending a laser into the right-field seats to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Almora helped preserve that lead with some sparkling defense in the bottom half of the inning. He tracked down a deep fly ball to the wall and made a leaping catch to rob Corey Seager of extra bases.

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In the fourth, Russell hit a no-doubter onto Waveland Avenue for his first of the season and the Cubs were up 2-0. From there, the Cubs’ Anderson and the bullpen did a magnificent job to shut down the Dodgers to close out the 4-0 shutout.

Anderson once again sharp

Anderson was masterful again, this time going five innings without allowing a run, even though he did walk four while striking out two. The Cubs then used a combination of Carl Edwards, Jr., Koji Uehara and Wade Davis to finish up blanking the Dodgers.

Anderson has now worked 10 2/3 innings while allowing just one run for a 0.84 ERA. So far the Cubs decision to use him in the rotation has paid off well early in the season. With his past arm issues, the Cubs won’t look to push him any harder. Five or six innings and turn the ball over to this bullpen will be fine for Joe Maddon.

What’s Next

The Cubs will welcome in the Pittsburgh Pirates for a weekend series. The first game will be tomorrow at 1:20 p.m. CT for the first pitch. It will be Kyle Hendricks for the Cubs taking on the Pirates Gerrit Cole.