The Cubs beat the Dodgers 16-0 Saturday night and it was already a blowout before Los Angeles turned to a position player to pitch the final two innings of the game. At the end, it turned out to be the worst loss in Dodgers franchise history at home.
The Dodgers have not lost a game by this much since 1965 and you have to go back to the 19th century to find their last home game that came close to Saturday night’s ass-kicking by the Cubs.
This was the Dodgers' worst shutout loss (16-0) since 1965, and their worst at home in franchise history, eclipsing their 15-0 loss in 1898 to the Pirates.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 13, 2025
Michael Busch continued to his revenge tour against his former team by driving in three runs and scoring four times as he went 4-for-6 at the plate. The Cubs first baseman began the scoring with a solo home run off Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki in the second inning.
Busch says bye-bye baseball! pic.twitter.com/MagUKZo3OW
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 13, 2025
Busch could have had an even bigger not if it wasn’t for Andy Pages. In the fifth inning and the bases loaded, Busch crushed a ball that Pages was able to track down and rob Busch of extra bases, making the catch up against the wall following a leap.
Nonetheless, the Cubs offense stepped on the throat of Ben Casparius, who came in relief of Sasaki to begin the sixth inning. At that point the Cubs were only up 1-0, but it wasn’t long until that lead grew wider. Entering Saturday’s appearance, Casparius had pitched nine shutout innings in six relief outings to begin the season. Those numbers dramatically changed in one night.
The Cubs were all over the Dodgers reliever, scoring six runs on seven hits in 1.2 innings.
CRUSHED by Carson! pic.twitter.com/65qTxXQcft
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 13, 2025
Have a night, Michael Busch! pic.twitter.com/pFBSgBgxkt
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 13, 2025
Then, Luis Garcia was asked to get the final out of the seventh inning and he eventually did. However, Garcia came back out for the eighth and was quickly taken out after allowing the first four batters he faced to score. That was capped off by Miguel Amaya’s first home run of the season.
MORE MIGUEL, MORE! pic.twitter.com/SOnOo2iKzF
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 13, 2025
Once the Cubs took an 11-0 lead Dave Roberts put in position player Miguel Rojas to finish out the game and save some bullpen arms for Los Angeles. The Cubs piled on five more runs, which included Carson Kelly’s second home run of the game.
Carson's just havin' fun and we're here for it. pic.twitter.com/bUh3M8JE7d
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 13, 2025
The Cubs offense put up 16 runs on 21 hits, adding four walks, while striking out only four times. Six players had multi-hit games, including two who came off the bench to pinch hit in the middle of the game.
By the way, the offense is obviously getting the headlines here, but Ben Brown deserves a lot of credit. Again, the Cubs only had a 2-0 lead heading into the seventh inning, so it’s not like it was a blowout from the start. Brown was not only able to match Sasaki, but he out-pitched him, going six shutout innings.
The most encouraging sign of the night might have just been Brown’s command. The hard-throwing righty struck out five batters and walked none. It was the first time in Brown’s MLB career that he pitched six innings and did not walk a single batter.
His command has been an issue early on in 2025, so you definitely hope this performance against the premier lineup in baseball is a step in the right direction for Brown.
