L.A. Dodgers beat St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 in walk-off fashion

by Seth Udinski

Seth Udinski, FISM News

 

The defending World Series champions advanced to the National League divisional round of the playoffs after a dramatic victory on Wednesday night in the wildcard round.

Los Angeles Dodger’s left fielder Chris Taylor lived out every young baseball player’s sandlot dream on the national stage to close out the game. Coming up to bat with two-outs in the 9th in a tied winner-take-all playoff game, Taylor hit a 2-run walk-off home run to send the Dodgers to the next round, also sending the hometown crowd at Dodger Stadium into a delighted frenzy.

The home run gave Los Angeles a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, who came into the game as the hottest team in baseball.

The game was an all-time classic. Los Angeles fell behind early 1-0 after St. Louis scored on a wild pitch from starter Max Scherzer. But in the 4th, Dodgers’ slugging third baseman Justin Turner hit a solo shot, tying the score at 1-1 and adding to his impressive playoff resume. Neither team scored a run for the rest of the contest until Taylor’s heroics in the bottom of the 9th.

The Dodgers will now face their division rivals, the San Francisco Giants. The series features the teams the two best records in baseball as San Francisco finished with 107 wins, edging out the Dodgers by 1 game who finished with 106 wins. Their best-of-5 series will begin on Friday in San Francisco.

Tonight’s MLB action sees the White Sox taking on the Astros, and the Rays hosting the Red Sox in the first game of their respective divisional series.

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