Thanks to an absolute dart of a throw from outfielder Chris Taylor that cut down the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning, the Los Angeles Dodgers were able to hold off the San Diego Padres 7-6 on Wednesday night.
The bullet throw came after Los Angeles closer Kenley Jansen served up a pitch to Manny Machado that the Padres third baseman drilled to left field as San Diego’s Trent Grisham stood on third base, representing the tying run.
After contact was made, Grisham went to the bag to tag up and made a break for home after Taylor caught the ball. That’s when Taylor delivered a one-hop strike to home plate that was clocked at 93.3 miles per hour.
Chris Taylor saves the day for Dodgers -125 backers 🔥
(via @mlb)pic.twitter.com/ETytvnU30H
— br_betting (@br_betting) August 6, 2020
“Manny hit it pretty low, so I got a pretty good jump. I don’t think he really got into it,” Taylor told reporters after the game, per MLB.com. “Luckily, my momentum was already taking me in and I just tried to get rid of it as quick as I could and make it easy on Will on one hop. I don’t think I’ve ever ended a game on the defensive side like that. It was pretty exhilarating, especially coming through for Kenley.”
Prior to Taylor’s heroics, Joc Pederson was the man of the hour for the Dodgers as he hit a pair of home runs and drove in five runs for LA.
Thanks to Taylor and Pederson, the Dodgers escaped with the win and pushed their record to 9-4 on the season, good enough for second place in the NL West. Currently on their longest road trip of the season, the Dodgers have won seven of nine while visiting Houston, Arizona and San Diego.
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