Dodgers stage rare, and much needed, comeback win over Cubs, 8-4

It was doom and gloom. Wailing into the dark night, cursing of baseball fates and all things Wrigley Field.

The Dodgers started one of their two aces, Zack Greinke, and he struggled in a five-inning outing. They trailed the Cubs by three runs, 4-1, heading into the seventh inning. All with the full knowledge they have not exactly been the comeback kids -- they were 1-54 when trailing after the sixth.

And then the skies opened, the hits fell and all was right in the land of the Boys in Blue.

The Dodgers staged one of their best, if rare, comebacks of the season on a chilly Thursday night in Wrigley, rallying with five runs in the seventh inning on the way to an 8-4 victory over the Cubs.

The win increased their lead over the idle Giants to 2½ games, with nine regular-season games left, and reduced their magic number to eight.

It felt like a huge turnaround for the Dodgers, who were looking at a third consecutive loss and dropping a half-game in the standings.

But after getting shut down by Cubs starter Tsuyoshi Wada for five innings, they jumped all over reliever Neil Ramirez in the seventh.

After Matt Kemp flied out into the wind at the wall, Hanley Ramirez singled off the glove of second baseman Logan Watkins. Pinch-hitter Carl Crawford singled Ramirez to third base.

Watkins continued to help the L.A. cause, bobbling a potential double-play ball off the bat of Juan Uribe that allowed Ramirez to score. Pinch-hitter Andre Ethier doubled in Crawford and sent Uribe to third. Justin Turner bounced out, but it was enough to bring home Uribe with the tying run.

Dee Gordon doubled in Ethier for the go-ahead run and Yasiel Puig singled in Gordon.

Suddenly, it was 6-4 and the Dodgers had gone from a painful loss to uplifting victory.

Greinke placed the Dodgers into an immediate hole, giving up two runs in the first inning when he battled with his control. He was up to 71 pitches by the third inning.

The Dodgers pulled to within one when they finally scratched a run off Wada in the fifth. Scott Van Slyke singled, took third base on a Uribe hit and scored on an A.J. Ellis groundout.

But the Cubs came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning on four singles. In his five innings, Greinke gave up four runs on nine hits and a walk. It took him 112 pitches to finish five innings.

Then came the five-run seventh inning. The Dodgers added a bonus run in the eighth when Drew Butera walked with the bases loaded. Kemp had another possible home run held up by the wind in the ninth, though it at least brought in the Dodgers’ final run.

Paco Rodriguez, Pedro Baez, Brian Wilson and Kenly Jansen each threw one inning of scoreless relief for the Dodgers.

Gordon had two hits, giving him six consecutive multi-hit games. Puig had three of the Dodgers’ 13 hits.