Michael Busch, whom the Cubs acquired from the Dodgers last winter in exchange for prospects Jackson Ferris and Zyhir Hope, has been in a huge slump in recent weeks.

Perhaps the desire to show the Dodgers what they were giving up helped Busch pull through. He homered, had two RBI singles and also doubled in the Cubs’ 10-4 victory over the Dodgers in the first of a three-game series. It was Busch’s second four-hit game this year (also on July 9 at Baltimore).

The Cubs wasted no time getting on the board against Walker Buehler. Ian Happ led off the game with a single and was forced to second by Buehler’s Vanderbilt teammate Dansby Swanson.

Seiya Suzuki missed, but then Cody Bellinger singled (VIDEO).

That ball got crushed! (VIDEO)

Isaac Paredes, perhaps coming out of his slump, doubled to left. Former Dodgers prospect Michael Busch drove in Paredes to make it 3-0 (VIDEO).

Kyle Hendricks glided through the first two innings, then loaded the bases with a single and two walks in the third inning for the core of the Dodgers order, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Ohtani also had a steal, his 47th.

But Kyle got Max Muncy to line out to Busch to end the inning. Busch led off the fourth inning with a home run, his 17th of the year and first at Dodger Stadium (VIDEO).

More on Busch’s homerun off BCB’s JohnW53:

Michael Busch’s fourth-inning home run was the first of 19 career homers to left field. He hit two as a Dodger and this was his 17th as a Cub.

Hendricks, who had walked the tightrope once more in the third inning, did so again in the fifth, allowing three straight hits to give the Dodgers their first run, then walking Freeman again to load the bases.

That brought in Keegan Thompson. Max Muncy hit a sac fly to make it 4-2, but Thompson struck out Will Smith to end the inning.

At this point in his career, Hendricks can give you four decent innings, but don’t expect much more. In this game, walks got him into trouble — four of them. From BCB’s JohnW53:

This was Hendricks’ 267th career start. It was only the ninth in which he walked four batters, and he has never walked more. He walked four batters once earlier this season, in 5 innings on May 12 at Pittsburgh. The first six times came in 2016-18, then he did it once in 2022, also at Pittsburgh.

If Hendricks continues to fill in for Justin Steele, with Steele (hopefully) only playing a minimum of 15 days on the IL, it would help to find someone to pitch with him after four innings. (Thompson, perhaps?)

In the sixth inning, Cody Bellinger walked and Isaac Paredes drove Cody to third base.

Busch’s third hit of the game gave Bellinger a goal (VIDEO).

That put Paredes on third. Unfortunately, he was doubled when Muncy caught a line drive from Nico Hoerner that bounced in and out of his glove. Paredes had gone to the plate too early (VIDEO).

Fortunately, the Cubs continued their sixth-inning rally. Pete Crow-Armstrong singled and the Dodgers elected to make a play on Busch at third. Busch was safe, but on the pitch, PCA took second.

That proved important when Miguel Amaya singled, scoring both runners (VIDEO).

So even with Paredes’ baserunning mistake, the Cubs turned that into a three-run inning. And Busch clearly loves hitting against the Dodgers, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Michael Busch had only three RBIs in one of his previous 134 games: his ninth of the year, on April 7 at home against the Dodgers.

Thompson allowed two hits in the sixth inning, but Dansby Swanson turned a nice double play and then a routine fly ball ended the inning.

Drew Smyly went to pitch the seventh inning and it didn’t go well. Shohei Ohtani singled and went to second on a rare error by Bellinger. That didn’t matter in the end when Betts hit a ball over the left field wall to make it 7-4.

After another walk for Freeman, the Cubs ended the inning with a strikeout, a fly ball and another K.

Did I say “a fly ball”? It was just a little more than that, a diving catch by PCA that could have prevented a really big inning (VIDEO).

With one out in the eighth inning, Busch collected his fourth hit, a double to right. He held at third on a single by Nico, and scored on a sac fly by PCA (VIDEO).

The Cubs added to their lead in the ninth. With one out, Swanson singled. Suzuki was safe after Gavin Lux fumbled a potential double-play ball. The runners got off on a double steal, and Bellinger’s third hit of the game scored Swanson (VIDEO).

Nico took third on that hit, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Paredes (VIDEO).

Busch then came to bat with a chance for five hits, but he ended up in foul territory.

With a five-run lead, Craig Counsell sent Ethan Roberts to the mound to finish it off. The 1-2-3 ninth inning featured another defensive gem, this time from Bellinger (VIDEO).

And the fact that the Cubs reached double figures led to another fun fact from BCB’s JohnW53:

The Cubs had scored more than their 10-run total in only three of their 316 previous games at Dodger Stadium entering Monday night: a 14-4 win in 1984; a 12-10, 10-inning victory in 1966; and an 11-5 win in 2018. They had scored 10 runs in three previous games, in 1978, 1983 and 1999.

The Cubs’ 16 hits were tied for the third-most in all of their games at Dodger Stadium.

In the 12-10 game in 1966 they scored 17 points and in the 14-4 game in 1984 they scored 20.

Whether or not the Cubs can make some sort of miraculous playoff run, this was a very nice win over a very good team. The Cubs fielded a varied 16-hit offense, and while they gave up some runs after big leads, they were able to extend the lead and hold on for the win. In that sense, this game was reminiscent of the first game of the year between these teams, on April 5 at Wrigley Field, a 9-7 Cubs win. Hendricks also started.

The Cubs will go for a series win Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. Shōta Imanaga will make his first start since his no-hit performance in last Wednesday’s combined gem at Wrigley Field. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers, his first start after a nearly three-month absence with what was first described as right forearm tightness and then a rotator cuff injury. The game will resume at 9:10 p.m. CT and will be televised on Marquee Sports Network. There will also be a national televised version of the game on TBS (outside of the Cubs’ and Dodgers’ market areas).