October 21, 2021: Chris Taylor hits three home runs to propel Dodgers to crucial win in NLCS

The Los Angeles Dodgers had every reason to feel confident as they approached the 2021 National League Championship Series. Not only were they the defending World Series champions (albeit in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season), but they had also amassed an impressive 106-56 regular-season record, second only to their division rivals, the San Francisco Giants (107-55). Furthermore, in the National League Division Series, the Dodgers had turned the tables on the Giants by taking the series in a tense fifth and deciding game, scoring the winning run in the top of the ninth inning to win 2-1.

By contrast, the Dodgers’ NLCS opponents, the Atlanta Braves, had mustered only an 88-73 regular-season record, a full 18 wins fewer than Los Angeles. However, since the Braves had won the NL East, they had earned home-field advantage for the best-of-seven series. In addition, the Braves had more quickly dispatched their Division Series opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, three games to one.

Coming off an emotional Division Series involving the two teams with the best records in baseball, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts reflected on the possibility of a letdown going into the NLCS: “I have all the confidence we wouldn’t be a victim of that. Knowing I don’t have to worry about that, it just gives me added confidence in our guys.”1

The first two games of the tightly contested NLCS in Atlanta were won by the Braves, both in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the ninth. Once the series shifted to Los Angeles, the Dodgers came back to win Game Three by a 6-5 score, but then suffered a decisive 9-2 loss in Game Four, as 20-game winner Julio Urías was roughed up for five runs and eight hits in five innings and the Dodgers managed only four hits off six Braves pitchers. Even more daunting, the Braves’ starting pitcher for Game Five would be their ace, Max Fried, who had won 14 games with a 3.04 ERA during the regular season. On the other hand, because the Dodgers were missing one of their key starters, Clayton Kershaw, they were relegated to planning a “bullpen game,” choosing reliever Joe Kelly as the opening pitcher.

One of the Dodgers’ most versatile and valuable players during the 2021 season was 31-year-old utilityman Chris Taylor. The ultimate team player, Taylor saw action at six positions during the regular season (second base, shortstop, third base, and all three outfield positions) and even made the 2021 All-Star team as a utilityman. Dodgers manager Roberts had campaigned for Taylor’s inclusion on the All-Star squad, saying, “[H]is versatility and offensive contributions are often overlooked.”2

In the 2021 postseason Taylor had clinched the Dodgers’ wild-card game win over St. Louis with a dramatic two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Already in the first four games of the NLCS, Taylor had made starts at three different positions (third base, left field, and center field) and would prove to be the key player for Los Angeles in Game Five.

The game did not begin well for the Dodgers, as the Braves’ Ozzie Albies singled with one out in the top of the first inning and Freddie Freeman followed with a 425-foot home run to give the visitors a quick 2-0 lead.3 After retiring the next hitter, Kelly was then forced to leave the game with a right biceps strain and was replaced by Evan Phillips, who struck out Adam Duvall to end the inning.

The Dodgers failed to score in the first inning but quickly grabbed the lead in the bottom of the second. AJ Pollock led off with a home run off Fried, and the next batter, veteran Albert Pujols, lined a single to left. That brought up Taylor, starting at third base because Justin Turner had been removed from the playoff roster due to a hamstring injury.4 Taylor jumped on the first pitch from Fried and hammered it to left for a two-run homer.

One inning later, consecutive singles by the same triumvirate (Pollock, Pujols, and Taylor) produced the fourth run of the game for the Dodgers. The lead was further extended in the bottom of the fifth inning after Fried walked two of the first three batters he faced (the first of whom had been eliminated on a double-play ball). Fried was then lifted in favor of right-hander Chris Martin, who faced Taylor in his third at-bat of the game. After falling behind 0-and-2, Taylor responded by slamming a home run to right-center field, putting the Dodgers up 6-2.

On the pitching side, once Kelly had exited the game, the Dodgers’ group of relievers combined to keep the Braves in check in innings two through five. Phillips retired the side in order in the top of the second, followed by scoreless frames for Alex Vesia in the third and Brusdar Graterol in the fourth and fifth innings.

As the game reached the later innings, the Dodgers continued to add to their lead. (Later, Braves manager Brian Snitker admitted, “After a while, it got out of control.”)5 Already with two homers and five RBIs, Taylor came up with two outs in the seventh inning against the Braves’ Dylan Lee. With the crowd roaring, Taylor blasted his third home run of the game, to left field, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 7-2 and resulting in a curtain call from the Dodgers faithful, the first of Taylor’s career.6 Los Angeles then added four more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, the first on an RBI single by Trea Turner and three more on Pollock’s second homer of the game. That outburst enabled Taylor to bat one last time with a chance to make postseason history with a fourth homer, but he struck out against Jacob Webb.

When closer Kenley Jansen set down the Braves in order in the ninth inning, the Dodgers had earned a decisive 11-2 win that cut the Braves’ series lead to three games to two, with the Series now shifting back to Atlanta. In the process, Taylor became only the 11th major leaguer to hit three home runs in a playoff game and the first to do so in an elimination game for his team.7 He also became only the second player in postseason history to have at least three home runs, four hits, and six RBIs in a game, joining Pujols, who accomplished the feat in Game Three of the 2011 World Series as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.8 Finally, the Dodgers became only the fourth team to win a postseason elimination game when their starting pitcher did not make it through the first inning, joining the 2017 New York Yankees (AL wild-card game), the 1924 Washington Senators (World Series Game Seven), and the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates (World Series Game Seven).9

After the game, the understated Taylor commented: “It’s definitely a surreal feeling for me. I never thought I was going to hit three homers in a game, let alone a postseason game. It just still hasn’t really sunk in.” He added, “When you’re feeling good, it’s more just see the ball, hit the ball.”10 Still down three games to two in the NLCS, the Dodgers certainly hoped that those good feelings would carry over to Game Six.

Postscript

In Game Six, a three-run homer by NLCS MVP Eddie Rosario in the fourth inning proved to be the difference as the Braves won 4-2 to advance to the World Series. Despite Taylor’s Game Five heroics, the Dodgers’ bid to reach their fourth World Series in five years had fallen short.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LAN/LAN202110210.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2021/B10210LAN2021.htm

Notes

1 Dylan Hernandez, “Hangover? Try More Champagne,” Los Angeles Times, October 16, 2021: D1.

2 Caroline Darney, “Chris Taylor Earns Spot on NL All-Star Team,” Streaking the Lawn, July 4, 2021, http://www.streakingthelawn.com/2021/7/4/22563396/chris-taylor-national-league-mlb-all-star-team-los-angeles-dodgers.

3 Anthony DiComo, “Final Hurrah? Freeman Driven to Win with ATL,” MLB.com, October 22, 2021, https://www.mlb.com/news/freddie-freeman-homers-in-nlcs-game-5.

4 Jorge Castillo, “The Dodgers Belt Five Home Runs in a Rout to Stay Alive,” Los Angeles Times, October 22, 2021: D1.

5 Bill Plaschke, “Taylor Lifts Dodgers with Their Season on the Line,” Los Angeles Times, October 22, 2021: A1.

6 Castillo.

7 Manny Randhawa, “October Power Surge: Most Homers in Playoff Game,” MLB.com, October 21, 2021, https://www.mlb.com/news/most-home-runs-in-one-mlb-postseason-game-c296424904.

8 Castillo.

9 AJ Cassavell, “Kelly (Biceps Injury) Out for Postseason,” MLB.com, October 22, 2021, www.mlb.com/news/joe-kelly-injury-nlcs-game-5-biceps-tightness.

10 Plaschke.