Dodgers Will Face Giants in Division Series After Wild-Card Win

It stayed at 1-1 over the course of five innings, through nine combined relief pitchers, several pinch-hitters and two starting pitchers — Scherzer (four and a third innings, one run, three hits, three walks and four strikeouts) and Wainwright (five and a third innings, one run, four hits, two walks, five strikeouts) — reluctant to leave the game when their managers signaled to the bullpen.

“I don’t think it was the most popular decision, but it probably made for good TV,” St. Louis Manager Mike Schildt quipped.

The capacity crowd of 53,193 spent much of the 4-hour-15-minute game on its feet hoping to will the Dodgers to victory. Then, in the bottom of the ninth, Cody Bellinger, a former winner of the National League Most Valuable Player Award who has struggled badly all season, worked a walk from a 2-2 count against the lefty reliever T.J. McFarland to set the stage for Taylor, who had entered the game in the seventh inning.

Taylor had also been struggling, batting only 7 for 65 over his past 25 games.

“Obviously it’s a little different not starting,” Taylor said. “I was trying to stay ready off the bench, and I knew there was a chance I was going to come in knowing the way we operate.”

In the dugout, with Bellinger at the plate and Taylor in the on-deck circle as the threat of extra innings loomed, Scherzer was standing next to reliever Joe Kelly.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/07/sports/baseball/dodgers-giants-division-series.html