#Rise of nations for mac series

He needed four swings to drive in his next run with a seventh-inning solo homer. With those three swings, he drove in five runs. Across the first five pitches he saw Thursday, Taylor swung three times. Against right-handed reliever Chris Martin, Taylor pounced on another fastball for another two-run home run. In the fifth inning, Braves manager Brian Snitker finally pulled Fried as Taylor approached for a third time. ThatвЂ™s the one that landed in the bullpen.ДЄn inning later, Taylor attacked another first-pitch Fried fastball, scoring another run on a single. Albert Pujols then slapped a two-strike single, and Taylor teed off on a first-pitch middle-middle fastball from Fried. The rest of the DodgersвЂ™ bullpen pieced together a commendable effort: Six men combined to strike out nine, walk none and allow only three hits in 8 1/3 innings.ДЄJ Pollock began the reversal with a second-inning homer, his first in 29 postseason games as a Dodger.

Before he could finish the inning, KellyвЂ™s biceps ached. Three pitches later, Freddie Freeman hammered a hanging curveball deep into Dodger StadiumвЂ™s bleachers. Two batters in, Ozzie Albies punched a Joe Kelly pitch to third base, only there was no third baseman because of a shift. Game 5 could not have started worse for the Dodgers. 'We still have to go out, and we have to do our side, which is hit, which we havenвЂ™t been doing.' 'But thatвЂ™s not an excuse,' Betts continued. He noted that the Dodgers had to deploy Max Scherzer to finish off the Giants in the NLDS, that they were 'kind of behind the eight-ball' as a result. Mookie Betts sounded downtrodden before the game. If it seems the Dodgers play their best baseball only when they have to, well, that's because they do.

They won the game they were least likely to win. They bested the Braves 11-2, despite opposing AtlantaвЂ™s ace, Max Fried, despite utilizing a bullpen game, despite losing their opener to a season-ending injury.

#Rise of nations for mac series

In large part because of Taylor, the Dodgers staved off elimination for the fourth time in 15 days and forced a third leg of this series back in Atlanta this weekend. It was only the second inning, but until Taylor struck, it felt like defeat was a few outs away for the Dodgers. Taylor didnвЂ™t watch he knew as soon as he swung that he had vaulted his team ahead of the Braves. Taylor did not hit that, but he hit just about everything else in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, a Dodgers victory so potent it could only be interpreted as an announcement, for once and for all, that they are most comfortable playing baseball when confronting an imminent threat to their ability to do so.Д«ellinger had watched from the same spot as TaylorвЂ™s first swing of the night landed a baseball in the DodgersвЂ™ bullpen. Chris Taylor hit three home runs in the contest, and AJ Pollock added two. The Los Angeles Dodgers got a much-needed power surge in an 11-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 of the NLCS.