One big swing by Chris Taylor on Wednesday sent the Los Angeles Dodgers soaring and the St Louis Cardinals crashing in a 3-1 result.
Taylor hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to advance the Dodgers in a scintillating National League wild-card game.
Justin Turner homered early as the 106-win Dodgers advanced to a best-of-five Division Series against NL West champions the San Francisco Giants, who won 107 games to barely hold off Los Angeles for the division title.
Photo: AFP
“That’s gonna be fun. Yeah, two of the best regular-season records of all-time. We’ve been battling all year, so I expect a hard-fought series,” Taylor said.
The Dodgers celebrated on the field before heading into their clubhouse to continue the party.
Champagne and beer were poured over the heads of shirtless, goggle-wearing players, thrilled to have stayed alive for a shot at their Bay Area adversary.
Photo: AP
“One of the great rivalries in sports,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s happening.”
The sellout crowd of 53,193 at Dodger Stadium hung on every pitch as the tension of a tied game built from the fourth inning on.
Fans waved blue towels, futilely urging on the few balls launched into the outfield only to see them caught in a winner-take-all matchup between two of the NL’s most storied and successful franchises.
Photo: AFP
The crowd was on its feet in the ninth, anxiously waiting to see if the defending World Series champions could pull out a must-have win.
Cody Bellinger got the Dodgers started when he drew a two-out walk from T.J. McFarland.
Alex Reyes entered to face Taylor and Bellinger stole second.
“That’s huge, knowing I don’t have to do too much,” said Taylor, who was batting in the No. 9 slot after entering to play left field as part of a double switch in the seventh inning. “It kind of settled me down a little bit.”
Taylor then sent a 2-1 breaking ball into the left-field pavilion, triggering an explosion of cheers and ending a struggle that lasted 4 hours, 15 minutes.
The versatile veteran struggled last month because of a recurring neck injury. He came off the bench in the Dodgers’ most important game of the season so far.
“Honestly, I was just trying to hit a single,” Taylor said after launching the fourth game-ending homer in Dodgers post-season history. “He gave me a good slider to hit and I was able to get it up in the air.”
Taylor also was involved in a nifty defensive play in the eighth, robbing Edmundo Sosa of a hit for the second out.
Tommy Edman dropped a one-out single into right off closer Kenley Jansen in the top of the ninth and stole second. Paul Goldschmidt took a called third strike and Tyler O’Neill went down swinging to end the threat.
Edman went three for five with a run scored.
The Dodgers’ bullpen stymied the St Louis hitters, allowing just a pair of singles after the fifth inning.
“The whole bullpen stepped up. We’ve been doing it the whole year,” Jansen said. “Off we go up north now.”
Both teams had runners on in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but couldn’t push a run across.
“It was a grind all night,” Turner said.
St Louis finished none for 11 with runners in scoring position, stranding 11 overall.
“That’s a clubhouse full of guys that are hurting,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said.
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