The Los Angeles Dodgers kicked off the unofficial second half of the 2016 season with the opener of a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. With southpaw Patrick Corbin starting for Arizona, Chris Taylor was among the right-handed bats in the Dodgers’ lineup.
The start was Taylor’s fourth with the Dodgers this season and his 11th game overall; he was acquired in the June trade that sent Zach Lee to the Seattle Mariners. Taylor’s start on Friday was unlike any other of his young Major League career.
With the Dodgers trailing by one run in the fourth inning, he crushed a hanging breaking ball to deep center field for a two-run triple. Taylor doubled in the fifth and scored one batter later on Bud Norris’ single to left.
Then with two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, Taylor crushed a grand slam to push the Dodgers’ lead to 12-4. The home run was the first of Taylor’s career and left him a single shy of hitting for the cycle.
That set the stage for a dramatic eighth-inning at-bat in which Taylor, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ approval, attempted to drop a bunt single down. But Diamondbacks reliever Josh Collmenter came off the mound to make a nice play that prevented history.
Taylor nonetheless finished with a career night, going 3-for-5 with six RBIs:
