Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Chris Coghlan homered, drove in two and
scored twice to help the Chicago Cubs to a series victory over the Los Angeles
Dodgers with a 7-3 win on Sunday.
Starlin Castro also drove in two and Luis Valbuena homered for the Cubs, who
have won three of four.
Edwin Jackson (6-11) yielded two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over
six innings of work. Jackson last won on June 20 at Pittsburgh and had dropped
four of his last seven starts coming in.
"This one was for the team after last night," said Jackson. "I'm glad I had a
chance to save the bullpen a little bit. I had great defense behind me. You
can't do it all by yourself."
Josh Beckett (6-6) went four-plus innings for the Dodgers, allowing three runs
on six hits and three walks to absorb the loss.
Matt Kemp homered and Adrian Gonzalez supplied an RBI for Los Angeles.
"For Josh, it was a little rough," said Dodgers manager Don Mattingly. "A lot
of pitches to get through innings. We just didn't have much energy today."
Coghlan doubled to start things in the first for Chicago, then crossed home on
Anthony Rizzo's double to left.
Los Angeles loaded the bases with no outs in the home half when Hanley
Ramirez, who knocked his first career walk-off homer on Saturday, grounded
into a 4-6-3 double play that scored Justin Turner. Jackson then got Matt Kemp
to ground out to end the inning.
Jackson led off the fifth with a double and scored on Coghlan's sixth homer of
the season which put the Cubs up for good.
"I love playing here," said Coghlan. "You see the ball good. As a team it's
nice to get a series victory."
Kemp homered to left center in the sixth to cut the deficit in half, and LA
could have tied things in the seventh if it wasn't for Rizzo's glove at first.
With Drew Butera on second, Carl Crawford ripped a liner to Rizzo, who made a
full-extension leaping grab to rob Crawford of an extra-base hit down the
line and alertly doubled off Butera at second to end the inning.
Brandon League walked Valbuena, Ryan Sweeney and Chris Valaika to open the
eighth before inducing a fielder's choice off the bat of Nate Schierholtz to
keep it a one-run game. John Baker followed with an RBI groundout and Castro
grounded a single up the middle to make it a 6-2 game.
Gonzalez hit an RBI fielder's choice in the home half to pull LA within three,
however, Valbuena smashed his 10th home run of the season in the ninth to
restore the four-run lead.
Game Notes
Chicago went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while LA went 2-for-12
in those instances ... League was charged with three runs on one hit and three
walks in 2/3 of an inning ... Time of game: 3:34.