Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (4/21/23): Cubs 13, Dodgers 0 – Smyly Nearly Perfect in Huge Win

The Cubs went into Friday afternoon aiming to bounce back from a tough loss to the Dodgers Thursday night that featured too little offense. The North Siders came to play in a big way, exploding on offense and dominating on the mound to decimate Los Angeles.

Chicago wasted no time scoring on Dodgers ace Julio Urías, as Seiya Suzuki smoked a two-run double in the bottom of the 1st to give his team the lead. Nico Hoerner singled home a run in the 2nd then Cody Bellinger and Trey Mancini hit back-to-back solo homers the following inning.

.@Cody_Bellinger is THAT guy! pic.twitter.com/VOk8BozNhp

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 21, 2023

A five-run advantage was more than enough for Drew Smyly, who was absolutely lights-out on Friday. The lefty had Dodger hitters waving at his curve all day and kept the road team from reaching base through the 7th inning.

The Cubs busted the game wide open against reliever Jake Reed in the bottom of the 5th inning. Patrick Wisdom smashed a three-run home run onto Waveland and then Hoerner cranked his own three-run bomb against Andre Jackson to make it 12-0.

Smyly was perfect into the top of the 8th before a David Peralta dribbler in front of the plate went for the cheapest of possible singles. It was an absolute laugher of a victory as the Cubs evened the series. (Box score)

Key Moment

Catcher Yan Gomes tackled Smyly on the infield single and both players tumbled to the ground. It was a difficult way to lose a perfect game but everyone was unharmed and it was still a tremendous performance.

Why the Cubs Won

They were clicking in every aspect of the game and it was by far their best overall performance of the season.

Stats That Matter

• Smyly saved a taxed bullpen by being nearly perfect Friday: 7.2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 10 K, and 0 BB.
• Hoerner had four hits, including his first home run of 2023.
• Mancini now has five hits, including a homer and a double, in his last two games.
• Bellinger and Suzuki both reached base three more times.

Bottom Line

The emergence of Suzuki, Bellinger, and Wisdom as big threats in the last week suddenly makes the Cubs lineup very deep. That doesn’t even include interesting early results from Gomes and Nick Madrigal. With the team’s excellent pitching and defense, anything even close to this kind of offense makes things very interesting for Chicago.

On Deck

Game three of the series is Saturday at 1:20pm CT. Hayden Wesneski and Dustin May are on the mound with Marquee and 670 The Score carrying the game.