Taylor’s 3 homers help keep LA alive
LOS ANGELES » Chris Taylor hit three homers and drove in six runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers broke loose at the plate to beat Atlanta 11-2 on Thursday night, cutting the Braves' lead in the NL Championship Series to 3-2.
A.J Pollock had two home runs and four RBIs for the Dodgers, who have won seven straight postseason elimination games dating to last season. They also trailed 0-2 and 1-3 against Atlanta in the NLCS last year before rallying to win three straight games at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas.
Game 6 is Saturday back in Atlanta, where the Braves get two more chances to earn their first trip to the World Series since 1999.
After mustering just four hits in a 9-2 loss in
Game 4 that pushed them to the brink of elimination, the desperate Dodgers rapped out eight hits by the third inning off Max Fried. They finished with 17, a club record for a postseason game.
The Dodgers got to Fried with four consecutive hits in the second. Pollock hit a tying homer and Taylor drove the first pitch he saw to left field, putting the Dodgers in front for good, 3-2.
Starting at third base in place of injured Justin Turner, Taylor became the second Dodgers player with a three-homer game in the postseason. Kiké Hernández also did it in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS against the Chicago Cubs.
Taylor had an RBI single in the third to make it 4-2. He went deep in the fifth, sending an 0-2 pitch from Chris Martin to center field and extending the lead to 6-2.