Dodgers finally pull out ‘unstoppable’ identity after slump

The Los Angeles Dodgers rediscovered their offensive identity Saturday night, defeating the Chicago Cubs 12-4 and snap Chicago’s 10-game winning streak.

After dropping five of their previous seven games, Los Angeles broke out with 14 hits and a six-run fourth inning, marking a return to the approach the team believes defines its offense.

“We all love home runs. But sort of a hallmark for our club is stress, and continuing to put pressure on the opposing pitchers,” manager Dave Roberts said, as reported by Sonja Chen of MLB.com. “You look at the last week, we really haven’t done that. We might’ve scored three in one inning, and then nothing happens after that. But continuing to apply pressure is kind of what we typically do. And we did that tonight.”

The Dodgers built their decisive inning through a series of two-out hits, including RBI singles from Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Dalton Rushing and Andy Pages, as well as an RBI double from Alex Freeland. The sequence turned a 3-3 tie into an 8-3 lead and shifted momentum permanently.

Freeland emphasized the lineup’s potential when it executes that approach.

“I think when everybody gets going,” Freeland said, “that we’re just about unstoppable.”

Los Angeles added four more runs in the sixth and finished with a season-high run total at home. Shohei Ohtani also contributed, ending an 0-for-12 stretch with a first-inning single.

On the mound, Roki Sasaki earned his second major league win, allowing four runs over five-plus innings while striking out five. He pitched into the sixth inning for the first time this season.

“We just like winning around here,” Rushing said. “We don’t care if we’re snapping winning streaks or snapping our own losing streak. We just want to win every single baseball game, and look forward to winning a series tomorrow.”

Reporting and information from Beth Harris of the Associated Press contributed to this article.