Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon celebrates with Kris Bryant after Game 5 of the National League baseball championship series against the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, in Los Angeles. The Cubs won 8-4 to take a 3-2 lead in the series. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jon Lester pitched seven sharp innings, Addison Russell hit a tiebreaking homer and the Chicago Cubs moved one win from their first World Series trip in 71 years by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4 on Thursday.
The Cubs grabbed a 3-2 lead in the NL Championship Series and will have two chances to wrap up that elusive pennant back home at Wrigley Field.
The first comes Saturday night in Game 6, when Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw faces major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks.
Emerging star Javier Baez was in the middle of everything for the Cubs, a common theme this October. The second baseman made a sensational defensive play when the game was still close in the seventh inning, and his three-run double capped a five-run eighth that made it 8-1.
