LOS ANGELES — Yan Gomes homered twice, Ian Happ had 4 hits and three RBIs, Cody Bellinger scored in his return to Los Angeles and the Chicago Cubs beat the Dodgers 8-2 on Friday night time.

The Cubs bought three of their 5 homers within the eighth inning to drag away for a 3rd win in 4 video games.

“Starting the series with a win is really nice, especially on a West Coast swing,” Happ stated. “There was good energy in the dugout today, and definitely once we had those runs, the energy from that inning is something that can carry you for a day or two.”

Justin Steele (2-0) allowed two runs on three hits in seven innings. He has given up simply three runs in 19 innings this season.

Chris Taylor and Max Muncy homered for Los Angeles, and Noah Syndergaard (0-2) allowed three runs on six hits in six innings. The Dodgers have misplaced 5 of seven.

The focus coming into the sport was on Bellinger’s first look in Chavez Ravine for the reason that Dodgers non-tendered him in November, ending a 10-year affiliation courting again to when he was drafted by the group in 2013.

PHOTOS: Cubs topple Dodgers 8-2 in Bellinger's return to Los Angeles

A key piece of the Dodgers’ resurgence throughout that span, culminating of their World Series title in 2020, Bellinger’s time in Los Angeles additionally included 2017 Rookie of the Year and 2019 Most Valuable Player honors. Those moments had been featured throughout a pregame video tribute, after which Bellinger obtained a standing ovation from the sellout crowd.

His efforts to regain the celebrity type he confirmed in Los Angeles with Bellinger’s new group got here by in a 1-for-4 outing with a stroll and a run.

“You can see how the fanbase embraces him and appreciates everything that he did here, so there’s no way to not have emotion (about the day). But the way that he handled it, the way that he went about his business today … really, really awesome,” Happ stated.

The Cubs bolstered Bellinger’s essential day with well timed hitting, together with rocking Dodgers reliever Andre Jackson for 4 solo homers within the eighth and ninth innings after Muncy reduce it to 3-2 within the seventh along with his fifth house run this week.

“It’s frustrating, yeah,” Los Angeles supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “Noah navigated and got a quality start, and when the starter pitches like that, you expect to win the ball game. … It seemed like they were on everything (Jackson threw).”

GIMME A BREAK?

Bellinger obtained one other huge response from the followers for his first at-bat, which resulted in a pitch-clock violation when he wasn’t prepared in time.

“I was surprised, but rules are rules, I guess, at the end of the day. Once I got dinged, I just locked it in and was just competing from there,” Bellinger stated. “It was a really cool day.”

GOOD START

Cubs RF Seiya Suzuki made his season debut after pulling an indirect in spring coaching and had one of many three Chicago homers within the eighth.

“To show what we know he can do, Day One, it’s not easy to do. It just kind of shows the type of player he is,” Bellinger stated.

UP NEXT

Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon (0-2) will make his first street begin Saturday. Taillon gave up 4 earned runs in 5 innings towards Texas on Sunday. Dodgers RHP Michael Grove (0-1) will make his first begin since getting rocked for 9 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings at Arizona on Sunday. Grove hasn’t surrendered a house run this season.

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