Taylor's Two-Run Homer In Bottom Of Ninth Gives Dodgers 3-1 Win Over Cardinals In National League Wild Card Game, Face Giants In NLDS

LOS ANGELES - Chris Taylor's two-run, two-out walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a dramatic 3-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Wild Card Game on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Taylor''s homer ended a very tight and taut affair, only the fourth time in Dodgers' history that the team had won a postseason game via home run. The Cardinals were eliminated after going on a 19-of-22 run, which included a club-record 17-game winning streak, to qualify for the postseason.

St. Louis scored what proved to be their only run in the top of the first. starting with a Tommy Edman single to start the game. Paul Goldschmidt drew a walk, a fly out to right send Edman to third, where he scored on a wild pitch by starter and St. Louis native Max Scherzer to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

Brilliant pitching by Adam Wainwright helped the Cardinals keep the lead until the bottom of the fourth, when Justin Turner hit a home run into the Dodgers bullpen in left field to tie the game 1-1. Wainwright pitched very well, going five-and-one-third innings, allowing one run on four hits, walking two and striking out five before leaving in favor of Luis Garcia.

Scherzer, although not having his good stuff, pitched well also, going four-and-one-third innings, giving up a run on three hits, walking three and fanning four. Scherzer left with one out in the top of the fifth after getting striking out Tyler O'Neill, turning things over to former Cardinal pitcher Joe Kelly, who got Nolan Arenado to ground into a force play at third and struck out Dylan Carlson to end the threat.

The Cardinals hurt themselves by not taking advantage of several opportunities, going hitless in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position. St. Louis put their lead-off man on base in the fifth through the ninth innings, but couldn't score.

The St. Louis bullpen managed to keep the Dodgers off the scoreboard as well, as Garcia and Giovanny Gallegos combined for two-and-two-thirds innings of shutout baseball before the fateful ninth inning. It started after the first two Dodgers were retired, when Cody Bellinger drew a walk-off of T.J. McFarland, with Bellinger stealing second. Anthony Reyes then threw a 2-1 slider that Taylor hit into the left-field bleachers to give the Dodgers the win, setting off a wild celebration by the team and their fans.

The Cardinals were eliminated, while the Dodgers advance to the National League Division Series against their storied rivals, the top-seeded San Francisco Giants, starting on Friday afternoon at Oracle Park in San Francisco. It will mark the first-ever postseason meeting between the old rivals.

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