The Los Angeles Dodgers continued their road trip with a 5-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, pushing four of their runs across the plate in the first inning against Mike Mikolas.
Trea Turner led off the top of the frame with a ground-rule double and was followed by Max Muncy lining a single into right field that put runners at the corners. Mookie Betts then gave the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead with an RBI single that drove home Turner.
Muncy later came around to score on a double play by Justin Turner. With two outs, Corey Seager extended the inning by drawing a walk, which gave Chris Taylor the opportunity to add to the Dodgers’ lead with a two-run homer.
The 31-year-old had been mired in a 1-for-23 slump before the blast and hopes it leads to more consistent results. “It felt good. Obviously haven’t been feeling the best the last couple weeks,” Taylor said after the game.
“It felt good to finally get a barrel on something and see it go over the fence, and really just contribute. I’ve been grinding, especially that last series. Hopefully I can relax and kind of carry that into the rest of this series.”
After the Dodgers’ four-run outburst in the first inning, they were held to just one more run the rest of the game. Despite the promising start, the club also was outhit by the Cardinals, 6-5.
“It’s one of those stretches where a few guys are not feeling their best at the same time, and that happens sometimes,” Taylor said.
“A couple weeks ago it seemed like everybody was swinging the bat well. This is one of those times where a few of us have hit a slump. Hopefully we can bounce back soon. Use this momentum from [Monday] and go forward with that.”
Roberts hopes home run will ‘propel’ Taylor
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts knows how much Taylor has struggled over the past week and hopes his home run against the Cardinals is the start of a new hot steak.
“You’re grinding, and coaches and teammates can encourage you, but that positive reinforcement with a result, most of the time outweighs it,” Roberts said of Taylor.
“So for him to backspin a ball and hit a big homer for us, I think that will kind of propel him. He’s going hard and preparing. Just hasn’t had good fortune the last 30 days. Hopefully that will propel him.”
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