For Cubs and Jon Lester, this one hurt

LOS ANGELES – Jon Lester was sore after the game Thursday night.

“Yeah,” he said. “I got hit with a ball.”

But the Cubs pitcher was even more sore over the results in a 7-3 loss to the Dodgers – and maybe even the way livelier-looking baseballs were flying out to the opposite field – than he was in the area of his left foot where David Freese’s drive to the mound caught him in the fourth inning.

Lester (5-5) had a 3-0 lead at the time and had retired 10 of the first 11 Dodgers he faced in the opener of a four-game series against the best team in the National League.

After being hit, Lester was checked by the trainer, threw a couple of warmup pitchers and stayed in the game.

Six pitchers later, his lead was gone.

Cody Bellinger immediately homered, followed by a Chris Tayler single and Max Muncy homer.

“It hurt at the time,” Lester said of the Freese drive. “But it is what it is. It didn’t affect the way I threw the ball after that.”

Lester pitched one more inning – allowing three more hits, a walk and another two-run homer.

“He said he was fine. And he had really good stuff,” manager Joe Maddon said. “After the foot it kind of disintegrated, but he didn’t complain about anything.”

Lester sustained his velocity after he was hit but his command wasn’t as sharp.

“I felt like I had great stuff,” Lester said. “I got beat by three opposite-field home runs. I would like to think that pitching to the big part of the field is still beneficial, but I guess it’s not.”

Lester, who was critical of the pop fly look to a lot of home runs after a record-setting April for major-league home runs, also alluded to what some think are more tightly wound baseballs after a recent start in Houston.

“I won’t take anything away from their hitters; they’ve got really good hitters,” Lester said. “Bellinger’s probably one of the better hitters I’ve seen as far as his approach and not chasing and playing the game and doing all that. But it makes it difficult when you can’t pitch to the big side of the field.

“This used to be a pitcher’s park,” he added of Dodger Stadium. “And now these balls are flying pretty good out of here. But whatever. I’ve got to pitch better. I’m not looking at that.”

The loss was the Cubs’ third in four games to start this two-city trip – eighth in their last 10 road games overall.

It dropped them to a full game behind idle Milwaukee in the National League Central.

The Cubs, who beat the Dodgers in two out of three at Wrigley Field in April, won’t see the Dodgers again unless they face each other in the playoffs for the third time in four Octobers.

“I don’t look at it as a benchmark or anything,” team president Theo Epstein said of the marquee series.

But he did say the team noted the challenge when the scheduled released that this seven-game trip to Colorado and L.A. presented, starting with a flight to Denver after a Sunday night game at home – and continuing against a Rockies team that hits better at home than almost anyone else.

“Having to get through three games there and then come here and face this starting pitching and this lineup for four days, it’s a pretty good test,” Epstein said. “Hopefully, we fare well out here and take a breath and see where we’re at.”

Thursday’s opener featured a pitching matchup of left-handed aces, including three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw.

Kyle Schwarber hit Kershaw’s first pitch of the game over the centerfield wall during a two-run first Thursday, and Kris Bryant added a homer leading off the third as the Cubs opened a quick lead before the Dodgers had a base runner.

“I think from the first three innings or so we thought the game was going to be different,” Bryant said.

Kershaw (6-1) settled down and retired 12 of the final 15 he faced after the Bryant homer – only one Cub reaching second base in that stretch.

The Dodgers improved to 10-1 in his starts this season.