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Dodgers shuffle rotation ahead of finale with Cubs

Sep 21, 2014 - 1:24 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - With a big series coming up Monday night, the NL West- leading Los Angeles Dodgers decided to shuffle their rotation.

Instead of Dan Haren starting, Jamey Wright will toe the rubber Sunday afternoon for Los Angeles in the finale of a four-game series versus the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly chose to move Haren to Monday's opener of the three-game set against the Giants at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers suffered an 8-7 loss Saturday afternoon. But the Giants then fell to the Padres at night, keeping kept L.A. 3 1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the race for first place.

Wright gets the task of starting the road finale for the Dodgers. The 39-year- old right-hander has made just one start since the end of 2007. His longest stint this season was three innings, which he did twice. Wright is 8-5 with a 3.21 ERA in 21 games (15 starts) all-time against the Cubs.

Jacob Turner counters for the Cubs. The 23-year-old right-hander has dropped his last two starts. Last Sunday in Pittsburgh, he was knocked around for seven runs on seven hits and three walks over 4 1/3 in a 7-3 loss. Turner is 0-1 with an 8.16 ERA in three starts against the Dodgers.

Yesterday, Chris Coghlan smacked a pair of homers, including a go-ahead, two- run shot in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the Cubs rallied from a 7-2 deficit in the seventh inning.

"I think they embrace it, I think they're having a good time with it," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said of his team playing hard against playoff contenders.

John Baker led off the eighth with a single against Brian Wilson (2-4) before being forced out at second on Matt Szczur's sacrifice bunt attempt. Coghlan then laced his two-run blast into the front row of seats in right to make it 8-7.

"It's one of those fluke games. I really wouldn't look into it," Wilson said. "It's all my fault. I wasn't able to locate the pitch I wanted."

Justin Grimm (5-2) tossed a scoreless eighth to pick up the win, while Hector Rondon fired a 1-2-3 ninth for his 26th save of the year.

Coghlan finished 4-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored, Arismendy Alcantara cracked a three-run homer and Anthony Rizzo posted two hits, an RBI and a run scored for Chicago, which dropped the first two games of the series.

Adrian Gonzalez belted two homers, a three-run and two-run shot, for the Dodgers, who had won five of their last seven games coming in.

Los Angeles dropped two of three to the Cubs at Dodger Stadium from Aug. 1-3.