One night before Chris Taylor needed to come out of the series opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants because of right knee pain, he helped spark a comeback and made MLB history in the process.
Taylor’s grand slam in the sixth inning on Thursday pulled the Dodgers even with the Chicago White Sox and gave him 100 career home runs.
According to MLB research, Taylor is the first player to have both his first career home run and 100th come in the form of a grand slam. “It’s pretty cool to do it in that fashion,” Taylor said of reaching 100 career homers.
“Obviously a big momentum changer for us. Getting a series win was the biggest thing. We’ve kind of been in a slump, so to speak, and tonight felt like a momentum changer. Hopefully we can kind of ride that and get on a roll here.”
The Dodgers retrieved the home run ball, had it authenticated and put in a display case for Taylor, who in the moment wasn’t certain of where it would go.
“I haven’t even thought about it,” he said. “I don’t know if a fan caught it, but I appreciate them giving it back to me.”
Of his career home runs, Taylor’s best season was in 2017 when he slugged 21. That’s closely followed by 20 homers hit during an All-Star season in 2021. Taylor is up to 11 home runs this year, which has already surpassed the 10 he had all of last season.
Chris Taylor injury
Any momentum Taylor and the Dodgers were hoping to generate was quickly stopped. Emmet Sheehan impressed in his MLB debut but the Dodgers bullpen blew a 4-0 lead en route to an eventual loss in 11 innings.
Taylor was removed in the fourth inning when Michael Busch pinch-hit and remained in the game at third base. Taylor suffered his injury while running to first base on a groundout in the second inning.
“He felt it when he was running down the line. I just saw it when he hit the bag or something, he just didn’t look right when he was running back in the dugout,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the loss.
“For C.T. to say he can’t go is telling.”
Taylor was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Saturday.
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