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Once Clayton Kershaw exited Youth Brandon Sutter Jersey , the Chicago Cubs put a positive ending on a 2-6 road trip.

Anthony Rizzo’s three-run double and Addison Russell’s two-run homer highlighted a seven-run seventh inning as Chicago broke loose late and beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-5 on Thursday.

The Cubs pounded out 15 hits, including a season-best four by Rizzo. Russell drove in a season-high four runs in the final regular season meeting between the teams that played each other in the NL Championship Series the last two years.

”Over the course of this road trip everyone has been fine-tuning their approaches,” Russell said. ”Today you see a clear example of it being executed. It’s nice to see the ball fly.”

The teams met seven times in 10 days, with the Cubs winning four games over the two series.

”We’re doing this without everybody right now, too, and that’s the even better part,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. ”We have part of our bullpen but not everybody. I give these guys a lot of credit. During this little stretch they’ve been above and beyond.”

The Dodgers staked Kershaw to a 3-1 lead before he departed after five innings because of a pitch limit.

”He’s that good where he can rehab in the big leagues,” Rizzo said. ”It’s amazing.”

The Cubs jumped on reliever Walker Buehler (4-2), who arrived earlier in the morning from Triple-A Oklahoma City, where he had been set for a rehab assignment. Albert Almora Jr. homered on Buehler’s second pitch and Russell’s sacrifice fly tied it at 3 in the sixth.

”Some bad pitches to good hitters,” Buehler lamented.

The Cubs didn’t let up in the seventh when they batted around.

Jason Heyward’s pinch-hit RBI double gave them the lead for good, 4-3.

Almora followed with a popup to first base. Max Muncy used his glove as a shield against the sun in a cloudless sky, but the ball dropped for a single and scored Kyle Schwarber, who reached on a walk.

Rizzo stroked a double to right-center field off Erik Goeddel, extending the lead to 8-3. Russell followed with a two-run shot on an 0-2 pitch that made it 10-3. The Cubs’ seven runs were the most by a Dodgers’ opponent in an inning this season.

”I just want to stay consistent,” said Rizzo, who has 53 RBIs this season. ”That’s what I’ve shown over the last few years and that’s what I want to get back to.”

Steve Cishek (2-0) got the win with 1 2/3 innings of relief.

Muncy hit his team-leading 17th homer in the third and Justin Turner added a two-run shot in the ninth, giving the Dodgers a major league-leading 53 homers in June and tying the franchise record set last year. Enrique Hernandez drove in a pair of two-out runs with a single in the second and a double in the fourth.

Kershaw tossed five innings of one-run ball in his second start since coming off the disabled list with a lower back strain. He allowed four hits, struck out six and didn’t walk anyone while restricted to 68 pitches.

”Today was a good step and hopefully next time the restrictions should be off,” Kershaw said. ”I kept the pitch count down and didn’t walk anybody. There’s definitely some things to be positive about.”

Cubs starter Jose Quintana gave up three runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, the fourth time in five starts this month he hasn’t completed six innings. The left-hander struck out four and walked three.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Cubs: RHP Yu Darvish (right triceps tendinitis) threw a bullpen session that didn’t go well when he experienced pain. He will return to Chicago to be re-evaluated and RHP Tyler Chatwood will start in his place on Saturday. Chatwood was activated from the paternity list. … INF Kris Bryant (shoulder) has yet to be cleared for baseball activities, although it’s hoped he will come off the DL next week. … RHP Carl Edwards Jr. (right shoulder inflammation) will pitch for Triple-A Iowa on Friday and if it goes well, he could rejoin the rotation.

Dodgers: RHP Josh Fields (right shoulder inflammation) went on the DL.

QUICKEST TURNAROUND

Buehler had the quickest turnaround of any of his teammates who faced a day game after a night game. The rookie right-hander arrived in Oklahoma City for a rehab assignment on Wednesday only to board a 6:15 a.m. flight Thursday to LA. He came off the DL where he had been nursing a rib microfracture. The Dodgers needed him with four others unavailable in the bullpen. Buehler, who has been starting this season, refused to use the travel as an excuse. ”These guys are good. You can’t make pitches like that Brendan Leipsic Jersey Kids ,” he said. ”I didn’t execute.” Manager Dave Roberts said Buehler would toss a bullpen session and then return to the rotation.

UP NEXT

Cubs: LHP Mike Montgomery (2-2, 3.39 ERA) starts Friday against Minnesota in the opener of an eight-game homestand. It will be his seventh start to go with 18 relief appearances.

Dodgers: LHP Rich Hill (1-2, 5.30) starts Friday against Colorado. He is 0-3 with a 7.52 ERA in four career starts against the Rockies.

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When Carson Wentz went down for the Philadelphia Eagles, the pressure fell on backup Nick Foles and everyone else to step up.

The defense rose to the challenge in the first playoff game.

They harassed Matt Ryan, contained Julio Jones and made a goal-line stand at the end in a 15-10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

”We know defense wins championships. You say it all the time. You hear it. It’s clich锟?but it’s true, especially where we are now at home,” Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins said.

The strong defensive effort helped the underdog Eagles (14-3) advance to the NFC championship game for the sixth time since 2001. They’ll host the Vikings (14-3) next Sunday. Minnesota advanced with a thrilling 29-24 win over New Orleans.

”We don’t even care,” linebacker Nigel Bradham said about a preferred opponent. ”Obviously, we’ll see a good game and get ready to prepare for whoever we’re going to play next.”

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s unit was No. 1 against the run, 17th against the pass and fourth in points allowed.

They held the Falcons to 281 yards, no points in the second half and Atlanta’s only touchdown drive came after a fumbled punt at the Eagles 18.

”We don’t point fingers,” defensive end Brandon Graham said. ”Just stay the task and keep playing your technique. Keep playing with effort. The second half, we went out there and did that. Nobody gave us a shot. We have another 60 minutes next week. I’m happy with this team because we are a great team. We stay together even through adversity.”

Eagles coach Doug Pederson showed his confidence in the defense when he chose to have Jake Elliott kick a 21-yard field goal instead of going for fourth-and-1 at the Falcons 3 with a 12-10 lead and 6:05 remaining.

The defense had forced two three-and-outs and held Atlanta to only 49 yards in the second half. But Ryan led the Falcons on a long drive, converting a fourth-and-6 along the way. Atlanta had a first down at the Eagles 9 with 1:19 left.

Ryan threw incomplete to Jones and T.J. Ward. After a 7-yard pass to Jones to the 2, the season came down to one play.

Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian inexplicably called a rollout, taking half the field away for Ryan.

The defense read the play when they saw the formation, pressured Ryan and forced him to throw it up to Jones in the corner of the end zone. Jalen Mills had tight coverage and the ball sailed over Jones’ hands.

”We probably had three guys calling out the play on that one just based on our preparation, our study,” Jenkins said.

Jones had nine catches for 101 yards, but Mills and Ronald Darby kept him out of the end zone.

”The whole motto and the slogan was just `do your job,”’ Mills said. ”Nobody has to go out there and be superman. Know what you have to do for one, then go out there and execute.”

The defense did its part. The defense will have to do it again next week because the offense isn’t going to win a shootout.

”It was on us and we wouldn’t want it any other way,” Bradham said. ”That’s how you feel when you’re on (defense) and you feel like we lead this team. We set the tone for this team and we set the pace for this team. That’s how we feel. We feel like all the energy and everything comes through us and everybody feeds off of it.”

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