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Cody Bellinger and Michael Busch homered against their former team and the visiting Chicago Cubs finished off a 10-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday to open a three-game series.

Bellinger, who played six seasons for the Dodgers and was the National League’s Most Valuable Player for Los Angeles in 2019, hit a two-run homer and added an RBI single. Busch, who was traded to Chicago in January, had four hits, including a solo shot, and three RBIs.

Trying to stay afloat in the chase for the final National League wild-card spot, the Cubs (74-70) won for the third time in seven games. Chicago is 5 1/2 games behind the New York Mets, who hold the last wild-card position.

Shohei Ohtani had a stolen base for the Dodgers (86-58) to give him 47 on the season. Ohtani also has 46 home runs as he closes in on the first 50-50 season in major league history with 18 regular-season games remaining.

Los Angeles right-hander Walker Buehler (1-5) gave up five runs on nine hits over five-plus innings. Mookie Betts had a two-run homer, but the first-place Dodgers saw their National League West lead slip to 5 1/2 games over the idle San Diego Padres.

Bellinger hit a two-run homer, his 16th, and Busch had an RBI single in the opening inning. The three runs were one more than Chicago had in an entire three-game weekend home series against the New York Yankees in which the Cubs lost two.

Ohtani stole second with two outs in the third inning after drawing a walk. It was his 24th straight theft without getting caught dating back to July 23.

Busch flipped a home run into the left field corner, his 17th, for a 4-0 lead in the fourth.

The Dodgers scored twice in the fifth on a Betts RBI single and a sacrifice fly from Max Muncy.

Chicago took a 7-2 lead in the sixth, getting an RBI single from Busch and a two-run single from Miguel Amaya.

Betts’ two-run homer in the seventh pulled the Dodgers within 7-4, his 17th of the season. Busch doubled in the eighth and later scored on a Pete Crow-Armstrong sacrifice fly for an 8-4 advantage, and Bellinger and Isaac Paredes drove in runs in the ninth.

Cubs reliever Keegan Thompson (2-1) tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn the win.

Chicago starter Kyle Hendricks permitted two runs on four hits and four walks in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out two.

–Field Level Media