NLCS Game 5 Highlights : LA Dodgers 11 – 2 Atlanta Braves

Chris Taylor tied a Dodgers postseason franchise record with three homers in an 11-2 win over the Braves in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series. The Dodgers have now won four elimination games this postseason and seven consecutive, dating back to last year’s NLCS against the Braves.

The Dodgers are trying to become the 15th team to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-1 and the fifth to do so after trailing both 2-0 and 3-1. The latter feat was previously accomplished by the 2020 Dodgers against the Braves in the NLCS, the 2004 Red Sox (ALCS — also trailed 3-0), 1985 Royals (both the ALCS and World Series) and 1958 Yankees (World Series).

Of the 45 previous teams to have won Game 5 after trailing a best-of-seven series 3-1, 20 then forced a Game 7 (44%). Of those 20, 14 (70%) completed the comeback and won the series.

As the injuries piled up, Mookie Betts admitted that the feeling around the Dodgers is different than it was a year ago, when they also entered Game 5 staring at a 3-1 deficit.

Unlike last year’s team, which stayed mostly healthy throughout the season, these Dodgers entered the 2021 NLCS without likely future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw and All-Star first baseman Max Muncy. On Wednesday, the Dodgers had to watch Justin Turner, one of the team leaders, limp off the field with a left hamstring injury that will sideline him for the remainder of the postseason.

NLCS Game 5 highlights : Los Angeles Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves

How it Happened?

It began to feel like the beginning of the end for the Dodgers. That feeling only intensified when Freddie Freeman opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the first inning to give the Braves an early lead. A few pitches later, Joe Kelly, who started the bullpen game, left the game with right biceps tightness.

The Dodgers had their backs against the wall. But maybe that’s exactly how they like it. In the second, AJ Pollock launched his first of two homers, off Braves ace Max Fried, to cut the deficit to one run. Albert Pujols followed Pollock’s blast with a single. Then it was finally time for the Taylor show.

Taylor ambushed a first-pitch fastball from Fried and sent it into the Dodgers bullpen to give L.A. a 3-2 lead. In his next at-bat, Taylor gave the Dodgers some insurance with an RBI single. He then went back to his driver, crushing a two-run homer off Chris Martin in the fifth and a solo shot off left-hander Dylan Lee in the seventh.