Chris Taylor’s walk-off HR lifts Dodgers past Cardinals in NL Wild Card game

Chris Taylor hit a walk-off HR in the bottom of the 9th to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers past the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 in the NL Wild Card game on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers will move on to face the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS, which will begin on Friday.

The Dodgers entered the bottom of the 9th with the bottom of the order up. Cody Bellinger was able to work a walk and steal second base before Taylor ultimately ended the game. Max Scherzer started for the Dodgers, pitching 4.1 innings before ceding to the bullpen, which only allowed two hits.

Taylor hit the 4th playoff walk-off HR in Dodgers history. He joins Kirk Gibson, Justin Turner and Max Muncy.

You’ve got to feel for the Cardinals in this one. They got hot toward the end of the season and almost stole this game on the road from the defending champions. It’s nice that we get a historic Giants-Dodgers playoff series, but still. The Cards manufactured a run in the first inning off Scherzer and really didn’t do much else the rest of the way. LA’s bullpen was too dominant.

Los Angeles entered the contest as heavy moneyline favorites at -235 on DraftKings Sportsbook before the game began. They also clear the -1.5 run line on the two-run shot, which is big since the Dodgers were getting over 65 percent of the handle and bets on the run line. The over/under was 7.5 runs and the under cleared with the majority of the handle and bets being placed on the over. That was the slight win for the book. There were 60 percent of bets on the ML despite the number being high. The game also ended up close and could have gone either way.