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Chris Taylor’s 3-run home run caps Dodgers’ comeback

April 26, 2023

PITTSBURGH — The pain in his side from a minor oblique injury couldn’t have hurt any worse than what Chris Taylor must have felt when he saw his batting average displayed on large scoreboards across the country.

Taylor went into Tuesday batting .111 (5 for 45), including just two hits and 14 strikeouts over his previous 24 at-bats. But he was on base four times and hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth inning that brought the Dodgers all the way back from a five-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-7.

The comeback gave the Dodgers their second three-game winning streak of the season (their longest) and moved them two games over .500 (13-11) for the first time in 2½ weeks.

“Yeah, that was a big one for us,” Taylor said. “Getting down early, (we) felt a little dead. Felt like we scratched and clawed our way back into this one. That’s what we used to do so well. So to be able to do that, kind of work one inning at a time, get some baserunners then come up in some big spots felt good.”

The five-run deficit was nothing compared to the hole Taylor was digging himself this season. Following on the heels of an injury-marred, sub-par season in 2022 and poor Cactus League results this spring, getting off to a bad start was far from ideal.

“It’s not the first time I’ve had a slow start to the season,” he said. “It’s always hard. Everybody wants to start the year off well. You’ve just got to kind of take it one day at a time and try to focus on helping the team win any way you can, try to take the pressure off yourself. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

A bloop single in the fifth inning might have been the best thing to ease some of that tension, Taylor said.

“Once you start getting hits you sort of relax a little bit. The tension frees up and everything slows down,” he said.

“If anything I think it reminds you that you’re not as far away as you think you are. … Sometimes you put so much pressure and there’s just that added tension because you want to get a hit so bad, you want to come through so bad. It’s hard to perform that way.”

Noah Syndergaard put the Dodgers in the 7-2 hole they found themselves in Tuesday. He was roughed up for those seven runs on nine hits in just four innings, his ERA rising to 6.58 in the process.

“Just one of those days where I was my biggest enemy and I just get out of sync with my delivery and rhythm and become my own worst enemy,” Syndergaard said. “Hard to get out of my way at that point.”

The velocity Syndergaard hoped to recover this year with Tommy John surgery farther in his past appears to be gone for good. He averaged 92 mph on his fastball against the Pirates and is averaging 92.5 mph for the season.

The real speed is being shown by runners once they reach base against Syndergaard. Always one of the worst in the league at controlling the running game, MLB’s new rules have not worked in Syndergaard’s favor. He has allowed nine steals in nine attempts during his 26 innings this year.

That figured prominently in the Pirates’ pillaging of Syndergaard.

Tucupita Marcano singled and stole second in the first inning then scored the Pirates’ first run on Carlos Santana’s two-out RBI single.

Ji Hwan Bae beat out infield singles in each of his first two at-bats against Syndergaard, stole second each time and scored runs. One of those was on a two-run double by Ke’Bryan Hayes, lined through the spot vacated when Taylor moved to cover third base as Bae and Austin Hedges took off on a double steal.

Bae’s second run came on a three-run home run by Andrew McCutchen, the fifth homer Syndergaard has given up this season.

The Dodgers chipped away at the Pirates’ early lead and nearly erased it in the sixth inning.

A leadoff double by James Outman and a Miguel Vargas walk put two on for the third rookie in the Dodgers’ lineup, Michael Busch. He lined an RBI single through the middle for his first major-league hit.

When Taylor followed with a single, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out. Austin Barnes made it a two-run game, 7-5, with a sacrifice fly and Mookie Betts drove a fly ball to deep left field.

Pirates outfielder Jack Suwinski jumped at the wall and robbed Betts of a three-run home run that would have given the Dodgers the lead.

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“It was deflating,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But knowing we still had three at-bats left, we still felt pretty good about it. It was a bummer but I don’t think anyone was too deflated.”

Taylor got to play the hero instead. Two innings later, he drove a 2-and-0 fastball from Pirates reliever Colin Holderman well beyond Suwinski’s reach, 422 feet into the seats in left-center field.

“He’s exhausting every ounce of ideas, thoughts, things, routines and trying to figure things out,” Roberts said of Taylor, who was at PNC Park on the off day on Monday taking extra swings. “I can only say, ‘Way to swing the bat’ (so many times) and not get results. Tonight was a good night and I’m happy for him.”

Caleb Ferguson immediately put that lead in danger before working out of a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the eighth that was largely of his own making (a walk and a hit batter).

Shelby Miller retired the side in order in the ninth for his first career save.

GO-AHEAD CT3-RUN HOMER! pic.twitter.com/2amNRpABOk

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 26, 2023

First of many for Michael Busch! pic.twitter.com/zxc22t2rAc

— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) April 26, 2023

Give me the loot.

What a catch by Jack Suwinski! pic.twitter.com/JojX8cKApI

— MLB (@MLB) April 26, 2023

Orange County Register

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Chris Taylor’s 3-run home run caps Dodgers’ comeback

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