Taylor hits walk-off HR, Dodgers deck Cards 3-1 in WC game

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Taylor hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers over the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 on Wednesday night in the NL wild-card game.

The 106-win Dodgers advanced to a best-of-five Division Series against the NL West champion Giants, who won 107 games to barely hold off rival Los Angeles for the division title. Game 1 is Friday night in San Francisco.

“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 sellout crowd of 53,193 hung on every pitch as the tension of a tie game built from the fourth inning on. Fans waved blue towels, futilely urging out the few balls launched into the outfield only to see them caught in a winner-take-all matchup between two of the most storied and successful National League franchises.

Cody Bellinger drew a two-out walk from T.J. McFarland and stole second in the ninth, when nearly every fan was on their feet, waiting to see if the defending World Series champions could pull off a win. Alex Reyes came in to face Taylor, who sent a 2-1 breaking ball into the left-field pavilion, triggering an explosion of cheers.

“Honestly, I was just trying to hit a single. Not trying to do too much,” Taylor said after hitting the fourth walk-off homer in Dodgers postseason history. “And he gave me a good slider to hit and I was able to get it up in the air.”

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.

Both teams had runners on in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but couldn’t push a run across.

St. Louis...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Taylor-hits-walk-off-HR-Dodgers-beat-Cards-3-1-16515286.php