What a blast!
Turner hits three-run homer in ninth to give Dodgers win
LOS ANGELES — Justin Turner hit a three-run homer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 4-1 on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.
Turner drove in every run for Los Angeles, going the other way for a tying single in the fifth before sending a long shot to centre field off John Lackey in the ninth. A fan wearing a blue Dodgers jersey reached over a railing to catch the ball on the fly.
Turner’s second homer of the post-season ended another dramatic night for the Dodgers, who remained unbeaten in these playoffs and moved within two wins of their first World Series appearance since 1988.
And the red-bearded slugger even did it on the 29th anniversary of Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit, walk-off homer to beat Oakland in the opening game of the Dodgers’ last World Series victory.
“It’s very cool, and J.T., we were talking about it in there after the game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Twenty-nine years to the day. It was special. Our guys feel it.”
Game 3 in the best-ofseven series is Tuesday night at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Midseason acquisition Yu Darvish starts for the Dodgers against Kyle Hendricks.
Yasiel Puig drew his third walk of the game leading off the ninth, and Charlie Culberson bunted him to second. After Brian Duensing struck out pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer, Chicago manager Joe Maddon went to the bullpen for the 38-year-old Lackey, who pitched on consecutive days for the first time in his 15-year career.
Lackey got the call over all-star closer Wade Davis, and the veteran starter walked Chris Taylor on six tense pitches.
Turner stepped up and ended it with his long drive — the fourth playoff homer of his career and the Dodgers’ first walk-off homer in the post-season since Gibson’s famous shot.
“We’ve been doing it all year long,” Turner said. “We’re never out of a game. As long as we have outs left, we’re going to keep fighting.”
Completing the poetry of the moment, a fan in a Chase Utley jersey in the centre-field bleachers caught the ball in his glove.
Turner has been at his best in October, batting .377 with four home runs and 22 RBIs in his post-season career.
Addison Russell homered in the fifth for the Cubs, who are down early in this rematch of the 2016 NLCS. Chicago won that series in six games and went on to its first World Series championship since 1908, while the Dodgers have been absent from the Fall Classic since 1988.
Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen got the victory with a hitless ninth despite hitting Anthony Rizzo on the hand with a one-out pitch. That ended the Los Angeles bullpen’s impressive streak of 22 straight Cubs retired to begin the NLCS, but the Dodgers have thrown eight hitless and scoreless innings of relief in the NLCS.
After a collective offensive effort drove the Dodgers to a 5-2 win in Game 1, Turner did it all in Game 2. He has 10 RBIs in the Dodgers’ five post-season games, getting five in the playoff opener against Arizona.
Jon Lester yielded three hits and five walks while failing to get out of the fifth inning in the shortest start of his long post-season career, but the Dodgers couldn’t take advantage of a rare shaky night by the Cubs’ star left-hander.
Rich Hill struck out eight in five more impressive innings for the Dodgers, but he was pulled for pinch-hitter Curtis Granderson in the fifth in a debatable decision by Roberts.