SAN DIEGO — Winning two out of three against the Dodgers last weekend, the Cubs played more cohesively than they did last month in Tokyo, when they were swept in two games by a shorthanded version of the defending World Series champions to open the regular season.
“They’re arguably the best team in the game, from top to bottom,” center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong said. “And I don’t want to say we’re rising to the occasion, because I have full confidence that we are just that, as well. But coming in here [to Los Angeles] and taking them down for two out of three is great. That’s what we come in here to do, especially after dropping Game 1 [on Friday]. . . . Being able to come back the next two days and do what we did, that’s a huge boost for us going into San Diego for sure.”
The Cubs’ six-game road trip — part of a difficult April schedule — continued with three games against the Padres at Petco Park starting Monday night.
“It feels good for sure,” right-hander Colin Rea said Sunday of winning the Dodgers series. “But we’re one game at a time.”
There were still promising takeaways after facing the Dodgers, whom the Cubs play again next week in two games at Wrigley Field. On the same day the Cubs announced lefty Justin Steele would undergo season-ending surgery, Rea held the Dodgers to one run in 3⅔ innings filling in for him.
“We couldn’t ask anything more from Colin,” manager Craig Counsell said. “I thought he just did a wonderful job. Clearly had some adrenaline flowing in that first inning. We were joking after he came out, it’s been a minute since we’ve seen 96 [mph] from Colin.”
The day before, paving the way for a 16-0 victory, right-hander Ben Brown threw six scoreless innings, bouncing back from a dud against the Padres the week before.
“This past week was a grind, just working on things and mentally going through things,” Brown said, highlighting his effort to slow down the game. “A lot to learn just from putting in that effort, and it obviously showed [Saturday.]”
While the Cubs’ pitchers impressed against a dangerous Dodgers lineup, their offense faced the Dodgers’ three best healthy starting pitchers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow. After being shut out Friday, they scored 20 runs the rest of the series. And entering Monday, they had the best run differential in the majors — plus-43, 13 runs better than the next team, the Padres.
Injury updates
Counsell said Monday he expects both outfielder Seiya Suzuki (pain in right wrist) and catcher Carson Kelly (bruised left hand) to be available by Friday at the latest, but likely sometime during this series.
“I would describe them both as improved,” Counsell said. “We’ll let them go through everything [Monday] and see where that puts them for the game.”