Taylor’s slam leads Dodgers over Brewers
MILWAUKEE — The Los Angeles Dodgers rallied late to stun the Milwaukee Brewers for the second straight day.
Chris Taylor hit a go-ahead grand slam off Carlos Torres in a five-run ninth inning, as the Dodgers overcame a four-run deficit for a 10-8 victory Saturday.
“This had everything,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It was a crazy game. You just wanted to get it over with.”
Los Angeles led 4-3 in the seventh when Chris Hatcher walked the bases loaded and Josh Fields relieved. Travis Shaw drove Fields’ third pitch over the fence in left-center, and Hernan Perez homered two pitches later for an 8-4 lead.
Yasiel Puig hit into a run-scoring forceout in the eighth, and the Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against Torres (2-4), who closed because Corey Knebel and Jacob Barnes were unavailable following outings on consecutive days.
Corey Seager walked, and Yasmani Grandal hit a grounder to first baseman Jesus Aguilar, who, instead of stepping on the bag for an easy second out, threw to second trying for a forceout and hit Seager on the back for an error.
Pinch-hitter Austin Barnes
Los Angeles’ Chris Taylor hits a grand slam during the ninth inning of Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers in Milwaukee. walked, Cody Bellinger took a high and outside full-count pitch for a walk that forced in a run and Taylor homered off the batters’ eye behind the center-field fence.
“Once I got two strikes, I was just thinking about shortening up and putting the ball in play, hopefully in the outfield,” Taylor said. “He left one over the middle and I put a good swing on it.”
Brandon Morrow (2-0) struck out the side in the eighth, and Kenley Jansen worked around Shaw’s one-out single in the ninth to remain perfect in nine save chances.
Roberts said prior to the game that Jansen was unavailable after Morry Gash / The Associated Press
throwing 33 pitches over two innings Friday.
“I just talked to him and said, ‘Listen, if something crazy happens, I’m still available and I’m going to be mentally ready,’” Jansen said. “He understands. He knew I was mentally ready so he called down to get me going.”
Milwaukee has wasted ninth-inning leads in three of its past eight games. Los Angeles won Friday’s series opener 2-1 when Grandal homered against Knebel in the ninth and Bellinger homered off Neftali Feliz in the 12th.
“We’ve got to play better against these teams to beat them,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “We did some really good things, but to beat teams like this, we’ve got to do more.”