ATLANTA – Chris Taylor hit a bases-loaded double in an eight-run fifth inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat the Atlanta Braves 9-5 Friday night in a rematch of last year’s National League Championship Series.
In the teams’ first meeting since the Dodgers rallied from a 3-1 NLCS deficit to take the pennant before going on to win the World Series, Los Angeles sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of the fifth, which lasted more than 40 minutes.
Atlanta starter Ian Anderson (4-3), facing the Dodgers for the first time in the regular season and the first time since Game 7 of the NLCS, retired the first nine batters he faced, five by strikeout, before allowing two walks in the fourth. He began to unravel in the fifth, walking Taylor and giving up his lone hit, a double by Gavin Lux.
“We have an explosive offense, and I feel like we can put up five, six, seven, eight runs whenever,” Lux said. “We have a lot of really good hitters, really good players. When we string together at-bats like that, it’s pretty fun to be a part of. That inning was huge. It was the difference maker in the game.”
Los Angeles tied it at 1 when third baseman Austin Riley fielded A.J. Pollock’s grounder and hit Taylor in the back with his throw home, allowing a run to score. Lux used a headfirst slide to cross the plate on pitcher Julio Urías’ bunt that Anderson fielded in front of the mound and flipped too late to catcher William Contreras.