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CHICAGO -- Miguel Montero delivered a memorable swing, Javier Baez stole home with his daring dash down the line and Jon Lester turned in another steady performance on the mound.It all added up to another dramatic victory for the Chicago Cubs, who are off and running in the NL Championship Series.Montero snapped an eighth-inning tie with the third pinch-hit grand slam in postseason history, and Chicago beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-4 in the opener Saturday night, moving the Cubs a step closer to their first pennant in 71 years.We hang in there, Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. We dont give up.Game 2 is Sunday night, with the Dodgers once again in need of a clutch performance from ace Clayton Kershaw. Major league ERA leader Kyle Hendricks pitches for the Cubs, chasing their first World Series title since 1908.Lester pitched six effective innings, and Dexter Fowler homered after making two diving catches in center field -- breaking his belt on the second grab. Left fielder Ben Zobrist threw out Adrian Gonzalez at the plate, helping Chicago to its first NLCS victory in 13 years.The Cubs pulled out 14 of their major league-best 103 wins this season in their final at-bat. They added two more in the Division Series against playoff-tested San Francisco, including a four-run ninth in the clinching Game 4.And now, this.Weve kind of proved we can overcome adversity in the game, slugger Kris Bryant said.Chicago was swept by the New York Mets in last years NLCS. Lester & Co. are back again and already in better shape following a crazy eighth inning.In the top half, Gonzalez tied it at 3 with a two-out, two-run single off Aroldis Chapman.Zobrist hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the inning before pinch-hitter Chris Coghlan was intentionally walked with runners at first and second and two outs, bringing up Chapmans spot in the batting order.That was the right thing to do, Maddon said. I probably would have done the same thing.Maddon sent up Montero, who drove an 0-2 slider from loser Joe Blanton halfway up the right-field bleachers for his first hit of the playoffs.I trust Joe. Ive trusted him all year long. Hes been great for us, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. Left a pitch up. ... It just didnt work out.The crowd of 42,376 at Wrigley Field roared as Montero rounded the bases and kept cheering until the veteran catcher popped out of the dugout for a curtain call.I never even thought I was going to hit at that point, Montero said. To be honest, I thought Maddon put me out there just to bring the lefty and get (Willson) Contreras to pinch-hit for me, and they didnt bring the lefty for Contreras.Fowler homered on the next pitch as the Cubs rebounded quickly from a shaky bullpen performance. Hector Rondon allowed Andrew Toles RBI double in the ninth before Chase Utley lined into a game-ending double play.Chapman retired Yasmani Grandal on an inning-ending groundout in the eighth and was credited with the win.Well be ready tomorrow, Gonzalez said. This game gave us a lot of confidence. We know we can beat them.Lester and Baez helped Chicago to a 3-1 lead after seven. But the Dodgers rallied in the eighth, prompting Maddon to go to Chapman with the bases loaded and no outs.The lefty struck out Corey Seager and Yasiel Puig before Gonzalez lined a 102 mph fastball back up the middle. A pumped-up Gonzalez celebrated at first base after delivering Los Angeles first hit in 12 at-bats with the bases loaded in these playoffs.But everything changed in the bottom half, leaving both managers to answer for several difficult decisions. Lester was replaced by a pinch hitter after just 77 pitches, and the intentional walk to Coghlan put the go-ahead run at third.A lot of that stuff was preplanned, Maddon said. You look for situations. Youre looking for the right matchups. But you dont know what hes going to do. ... You have to be able to react.Andre Ethier had a pinch-hit homer for Los Angeles, helped by a strong wind going out to left and left-center on a warm night at Wrigley Field. Kenta Maeda lasted just four innings in his fourth straight shaky outing dating to the regular season.The last time Kershaw was on the mound, he got two outs for the save in Los Angeles clinching Game 5 win at Washington on Thursday night. The taxing final victory over the Nationals left Roberts with few options for the NLCS opener, and the Cubs jumped on Maeda for three runs in the first two innings.There were a lot of pitches I left over the plate that they took advantage of, Maeda said through a translator.Bryant drove in Fowler with an RBI double in the first. Baez, one of the breakout stars of this years postseason, added his own run-scoring double in the second, on a blooper into center over a drawn-in infield.Baez was on third with one out when he initially broke for the plate with Lester squaring to bunt. Lester didnt get the bunt down, and catcher Carlos Ruiz threw to third baseman Justin Turner. Baez hesitated, then kept going toward the plate. He slid in safely before Ruiz could get the tag on him.Baez became the second player to steal home for the Cubs in a postseason game, joining Jimmy Slagle in Game 4 of the 1907 World Series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.It was a safety squeeze. I went a little too early and I saw I couldnt get back, Baez said. This is the big leagues and a rundown is too easy, so I kept going.HISTORIC SLAMMonteros drive was the first go-ahead grand slam by a pinch hitter in postseason history. Mark Lewis and Ricky Ledee were the other pinch hitters to sock a playoff grand slam. Lewis connected for the Cincinnati Reds in a 1995 Division Series against the Dodgers. Ledee went deep for the New York Yankees in the 1999 ALCS vs. Boston.UP NEXTDodgers: Kershaw pitched in all three Dodgers wins during the Division Series. The three-time Cy Young Award winner is 3-6 with a 4.79 ERA in 16 playoff appearances, including 12 starts.Cubs: Hendricks, who went 16-8 with a 2.13 ERA this season, makes his fourth career playoff start. He left his Division Series start against San Francisco after taking a line drive off his right forearm.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap Fake NHL Jerseys 2020 . Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before. Cheap NHL Jerseys From China . They hope to persuade the other team owners and commissioner Roger Goodell to put pressure on Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to drop the nickname they find offensive. "Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name. https://www.nhljerseys2020.com/ . -- Playing time has been limited for Maxim Tissot this season, so the Montreal Impact defender made the most of his first scoring opportunity on Saturday. NHL Jerseys China . Bryant, who signed a five-year, $34 million contract as a free agent with Cleveland in March, reported symptoms on Monday morning, a team spokesman said. Buy NHL Jerseys 2020 . Uniteds eighth defeat of a wretched campaign means Liverpool, which currently occupies the fourth and final Champions League place, could go nine points clear of its fierce rival by beating West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. Charlie Adam scored both of Stokes goals at Britannia Stadium either side of Robin van Persies equalizer, with a miserable day for seventh-place United capped by first-half injuries to centre halves Jonny Evans and Phil Jones that forced them off. This seasons world championships for bobsled and skeleton are being pulled out of Russia after a number of sliders said they would not compete in a nation so enveloped in a doping scandal.The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation voted to make its final decision on Tuesday. The move comes less than a week after the latest scathing report from World Anti-Doping Association investigator Richard McLaren showed the depth of doping and test-tampering by Russia during the 2012 and 2014 Olympic cycles.Thats a monumental decision by the IBSF and the right move to protect clean athletes and to tell the world that state-sponsored doping is unacceptable, U.S. womens bobsled pilot Elana Meyers Taylor said. I am ecstatic about the decision.The world championships were scheduled to happen over the last two weeks of February in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia, on the track used for the 2014 Sochi Games. A new site is expected to be announced in the coming days.The office of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the move was based on unfounded statements, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling it a politicized decision. But the Russian bobsled federation said it accepted the move in the spirit of cooperation, and asked for understanding from other sliding teams.There are no good decisions in these circumstances and our colleagues have had to choose the lesser evil, the Russian federation said. We understand that in a situation of mutual distrust, which is not of our creation, it is still possible to host a competition but its not possible to host a festival, and the world championship should really be a festival which people look forward to with pleasure.Elena Valbe, Russias top cross-country skiing official, also said she is prepared to cancel upcoming World Cup races in the country amid the Russian doping scandal.Valbe told state agency R-Sport she would absolutely allow the March 16-19 final roundd of the World Cup in Tyumen to be moved outside Russia if it would generate goodwill to let Russia compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics.ddddddddddddThe IBSF did not rebuke Russian sliding officials any rebuke over what was detailed in report. Instead, the federation said it came to realize that moving worlds was the only way to allow athletes and coaches from all nations to participate in a competition that focuses on sport rather than accusations and discussions -- whether justified or not.Some of the worlds best sliders -- including reigning Olympic medalists Steven Holcomb, Matt Antoine and Elana Meyers Taylor of the U.S., Martins Dukurs of Latvia and Lizzy Yarnold of Britain -- urged the IBSF for weeks to take the extraordinary action. Latvias national skeleton team said on Sunday it would boycott if worlds were held in Russia, and Austria and South Korea were also considering such actions.Put simply, the primary athlete concern about going to Russia for world championships was the integrity of the doping process -- with some even voicing worry that the hosts could tamper with food and drink supplies and create a situation where athletes would unknowingly ingest a banned substance. If caught in such a scenario, the athlete would receive a ban long enough to keep him or her from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympics.Its a huge risk to take, Holcomb said late last week.McLarens report showed that some Russian gold medalists from the Sochi Games were tainted by the state-sponsored doping program. Russia won gold medals in two-man bobsled, four-man bobsled and mens skeleton at those Olympics, though none of the athletes who got those victories have been implicated by any known positive or tampered-with tests.The Associated Press contributed to this report. ' ' '