Chris Taylor Didn't Hear No Bell! 3 Homers For Taylor On The Night As The Dodgers Smoke The Braves 11-2 And Force A Game 6
Have a damn night Chris Taylor! He's been a monster all playoffs for the Dodgers and with Los Angeles 9 innings from the golf course he loaded the team on his back and helped bring them to a Game 5 victory. 3 homers in a do-or-die game for LA, talk about onions. Taylor became the first player in MLB history with a 3-homer game facing elimination, good time for him to find his power. An 11-2 beating of the Braves with their season on the line? That is sending quite a message.
They stay alive at least another day but it didn't look good at first. The Dodgers went down early thanks to a Freddie Freeman homer in the first but the Dodgers weathered the storm and fought back. Joe Kelly started for LA and after the homer he only lasted a few more batters before he got taken out, it didn't look good for the Dodgers at all. Elimination game, bullpen game, and your pitcher only lasts 2 outs and gives up a 2-run bomb? Not great.
Evan Phillips came in and pitched fantastic with 3 Ks in an inning and a third and was able to limit the Braves and keep it close, from there the Dodgers bullpen was on point. Meanwhile Taylor and the offense took off. Chris Taylor has been unbelievable all postseason batting .529 in this series and .363 in the playoffs all together. He isn't the name you thought would be leading the Dodgers offensively but with Justin Turner likely done for the playoffs he'll need to stay hot to keep LA in this thing. He's not the star that we thought would be carrying this Dodgers team, he's a veteran guy who plays all around and is a beast. He's exactly what every team needs, he's a role player who knows exactly what he is there to do. Gotta love a guy like that. Just your casual 4-5 game with 3 bombs and 6 runs driven in to save your team's season.
AJ Pollock had 2 homers of his own including this 3-run bomb on a 3-0 pitch in the 8th. I hope Tony LaRussa is sleeping because he will NOT like that. The Dodgers are feeling themselves now, they're not a team that you want to feel it and gain their confidence back. They're hitting the shit out of the ball and now they have Scherzer for at least one more game and possibly Buehler if they can get to the game 7. May be time to start panicking, Atlanta.