Dodgers Force NLCS Back to Atlanta on Chris Taylor Three Homer Game

[Box Score]

The Los Angeles Dodgers are if nothing else, very hard to kill.

Chris Taylor homered three times, including a huge home run off Max Fried in an inning that would pull the Dodgers from a 2-0 early deficit from a Freddie Freeman first inning home run off Joe Kelly ahead at 3-2 to stay.

In this game:

  • Cody Bellinger got three more line drive base hits, and stole his 5th base of the postseason. Bellinger played centerfield on this evening.
  • In a night billed as possible his final game, Albert Pujols singled twice and walked.
  • A.J. Pollock homered twice and drove in five.

In all, the Dodgers showed that without the likes of Justin Turner and Max Muncy, they’re still going to be formidable to knock out. In fact, this was their 7th straight elimination game of all types that they have won, which is an astounding statistic in and of itself.

However the ‘bullpen game’ for the Dodgers held up quite well as their offense went apeshit on the Braves backend of their own bullpen when Fried exited the game before completing five innings.

Now the Dodgers head back to Atlanta for game six with a tired-armed Max Scherzer taking the bump. While Scherzer will have had five days to rest, it’s still a tired arm.

If they can win that game, they would have the game’s best elimination-game pitcher on the hill in game seven in Walker Buehler, who has looked a bit fatigued as well.

Finally, the Dodgers showed the spirit of a champion in this game. In a game that many, us included; felt like they may somehow concede and fold, they did nothing of the sort. They went down shooting and scoring runs. The depth they’re proving to have is keeping them alive, and they need a few more tricks up their sleeve to get by an Atlanta team desperately trying to avoid blowing not one but two 3-1 NLCS leads in consecutive leads.

Certainly it seems unlikely, but like any bad guy in a horror movie, the Dodgers aren’t dead until you are sure they’re not gonna get up off the sidewalk to commit the act again.