Los Angeles Dodgers Chris Taylor runs the bases after hitting a ninth inning walk off home run against the St Louis Cardinals Wed Oct 6, 2021 in the NL Wild Card game at Dodgers Stadium Los Angeles (AP News photo)
By Jeremy Kahn
This was not the first rodeo in the postseason for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the St. Louis Cardinals facing each other, but the first in the Wild Card Game.
Chris Taylor hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Dodgers a dramatic 3-1 victory over the Cardinals in the Wild Card game at Dodger Stadium.
In the longtime rivalry between the Dodgers and the Cardinals, the Dodgers now hold a 4-1 lead overall in the postseason.
With the victory, the Dodgers will now face longtime archrival San Francisco Giants in the National League Division Series beginning on Friday night at Oracle Park in the best of five series.
This will be the first time ever that the Dodgers and Giants will face each other in the postseason.
Taylor hit an 88 mile per hour slider off of Alex Reyes and put it into the left-center bleachers to send the fans at Dodger Stadium into an absolute frenzy.
Cody Bellinger walked with two outs, and after Reyes replaced T.J. McFarland, Bellinger stole his second base of the night and then Taylor hit a 2-1 pitch that ended the game and sent the Cardinals home for the season after a heartbreaking loss.
This was the third postseason walk-off home run in Dodgers history, following Kirk Gibsons two-run home run off of Dennis Eckersley of the Oakland Athletics in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and then 29 years to the day later, on October 15, 2017, Justin Turner hit a two-run walk-off home run to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead in the National League Championship against the Chicago Cubs, who were coming off their first World Series Championship since 1908.
Longtime Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth inning to pick up the win for the Dodgers, and despite allowing a hit, Jansen struck out the side.
Following the departure of Max Scherzer with one out in the top of the fifth inning, Dave Roberts, turned to his bullpen and the quintet of Joe Kelly, Brusdar Graterol, Blake Treinen, Corey Knebel and Jansen allowed zero runs on just two hits, walked one and struck out six.
Scherzer, who grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Chesterfield before playing his college baseball at the University of Missouri went just 4.1 innings for the Dodgers, allowing one run on three hits, walking and striking out four.
On the other side of the field, Cardinals veteran Pitcher Adam Wainwright went 5.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking two and striking out five.
Both Scherzer and Wainwright did not fare in the decision for their respective teams in the winner take all game.
The Cardinals got on the board in the top of the first inning, when Scherzer unleashed a wild pitch that scored Tommy Edman from third base, who led off the game with a walk, then stole second and moved to third on a fly ball hit by Tyler ONeill to Mookie Betts.
That was the score until Turner tied up the game with a solo home run off of Wainwright, and it was the 13th career postseason for Turner, a Dodgers record.
NOTES: This was the second winner take all Wild Card game for the Cardinals, who defeated the Atlanta Braves in the 2012 Wild Card Game at Turner Field. That Cardinals team, who were the defending World Champions would make it all the way to the National League Championship Series, where they would lose to the eventual World Champion San Francisco Giants in seven games after being unable to hold a 3-1 lead in the series.
Despite playing in the Wild Card Series in 2020, on their way to their first World Series Championship since 1988, this was the debut for the Dodgers in the Wild Card Game.
UP NEXT: The Dodgers will open up the NLDS at Oracle Park against the Giants on Friday night, while the Cardinals season is over and will regroup again in 2022 at Spring Training in Jupiter, Florida.
