Per ESPN Stats & Info: Chris Taylor of the Dodgers hit a Game 1 homer as a center fielder. His mammoth shot tonight came as a shortstop. He's the first player in postseason history to homer at those two positions in the same playoff season.
Here's what Hanley RamÃrez said to ESPN after his shoulder surgery: "I'm doing great; it was just a little thing, a bit of a cleanup to have a better swing. It was just a small thing and I'll be ready for spring training."
How did it feel to score the go-ahead run on Gary Sanchez's eighth-inning double in Game 4 of the ALCS? "It's tough to describe, to be honest," Yankees rookie Aaron Judge said. "That ballpark is alive. It was unbelievable. That stadium was rocking. The fans were going crazy. I didn't know what to do after I touched home plate. I can't describe it. That's why we play this game, for a moment like that."
One good sign for the Cubs: They had a chase rate of 40 percent on pitches outside the strike zone through their first seven postseason games, including 43 percent in Game 2, but are at 22 percent through three innings. On the other hand, Yu Darvish is throwing strikes with 32 out of 45 pitches strikes and no walks so far. Remember, the Dodgers bullpen has been hot with eight hitless innings in the series. The Cubs may need to get to Darvish in the next couple of innings.
The go-ahead home run Chris Taylor hit off Kyle Hendricks tonight is the longest tracked by Statcast this postseason. Not bad for a guy who had zero home runs in 233 career at-bats with the Mariners before being acquired by the Dodgers in June of 2016.
Another great defensive play at first base by Cody Bellinger. Dave Roberts called him a future Gold Glove winner the other day and he definitely has the hands and range to do that. But he can also play the outfield and it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up there next season, with the Dodgers bringing in a big-bat first baseman.
Lefty CC Sabathia was part of New York's championship run in 2009, the year the new Yankee Stadium opened. But he hasn't heard this much buzz at the ballpark in the Bronx since the team played across the street."This is the loudest I've ever heard it. I said that earlier in the playoffs. That wild-card game and the two games against the Indians. It feels like the old stadium," Sabathia said after the Yankees beat the Astros in Game 4 of the ALCS. "It's intimidating to come here and play. And when the crowd is like it is and has been, it makes a big difference."
Kyle Hendricks has allowed multiple home runs in consecutive starts for the first time in his career. He's given up 2 already tonight after giving up 2 in Game 5 of the NLDS.
From Sarah Langs of ESPN Stats & Info: Kyle Hendricks has now allowed multiple home runs in consecutive playoff games. That had never happened to him in the regular season in his career.
Chris Taylor does it again, putting the Dodgers ahead in the third. He got ahead of Kyle Hendricks 3-1 then unloaded on a sinker in the middle-middle part of the plate, putting it over the batter's eye in center field. Statcast had it at 444 feet. The pressure is mounting on the Cubs to do some damage against Yu Darvish before this game goes to the bullpens.
The Yankees didn't take the lead in Game 4 of the ALCS until the eighth inning, but Aaron Judge's solo home run in the seventh sure helped shift the momentum. Said starter Sonny Gray after the game: "When he steps up there in the seventh and hits a homer, that's when everyone's wheels start turning, like, 'OK, let's go. We've broken the ice. Now it's time to put some good at-bats together and do whatever we can to get this game.'"
Then, after Yu Darvish keeps the Cubs to that one run, on the second pitch of the second, L.A. ties on an Andre Ethier blast off the scoreboard above the right-field fence. That's the fifth career postseason homer for the dean of the Dodgers.
The ball was jumping out of the park in batting practice and continues to do so early in Game 3. Soon after Kyle Schwarber gave the Wrigley Field crowd something to cheer about with a home run, Andre Either quieted them with a solo blast of his own.
It was an eventful first inning for Dodgers starter Yu Darvish. He allowed a run on a Kyle Schwarber bomb off a first-pitch cutter and two other hits, but he escapes the frame with one run on the board. The other day, Dave Roberts said that Darvish has "a lot of toys" and he's broken most of them out early, mixing in five different pitches during his 15 first-inning offerings, per Statcast.
The Cubs had one run and three hits in the first inning of NLCS Game 3, which is as many runs and hits as they had in their past 14 innings this series.
With one swing of the bat, Kyle Schwarber has turned a Cubs crowd wondering if the offense would ever come alive to one making a lot of noise. It's loud at Wrigley Field with the Cubs jumping out to an early lead over Yu Darvish and the Dodgers on Schwarber's first-inning blast to left-center.
One reason Joe Maddon said he benched Javier Baez was to get another lefty in the lineup. He wanted to do that because Yu Darvish had a big platoon split this year: His OPS allowed against lefties was 178 points higher and Kyle Schwarber showed way, blasting an 89-mph cutter into the left field bleachers. That's by far Darvish's worst pitch, as batters slugged .511 against it in the regular season.
Yasiel Puig gave us the rare foul-ball bat flip, admiring a blast to left-field that hooked just outside the foul pole before striking out looking to end the first inning.
In a comeback that will immediately rank among the best in franchise playoff history, the relentless Yankees came-from-behind to beat the Houston Astros, 6-4, in Game 4 of the ALCS to tie the series at two games apiece. Rookie Aaron Judge led the way with a seventh inning solo homer for the first run and then an eighth inning RBI double to tie it. Gary Sanchez's two run-double off Astros closer Ken Giles had the decisive hit after Judge.
Did not notice this stat from Elias until after Sunday night's game, but it's a doozy: The Dodgers' Justin Turner is 13 for 18 (a .722 average) in with runners in scoring position during his postseason career. Highest of any player with at least 10 postseason at-bats.
What is it about the eighth inning of Game 4s for the Astros? It has all come apart here against the Yankees with a meltdown that could reach the level of that five-run eighth inning of Game 4 of the Division Series in 2015 against the Kansas City Royals.
Lance McCullers Jr. completed six innings for the first time since June 8 and gave the Astros more than they could've hoped. But the bullpen still needs to record the final four outs, and other than closer Ken Giles, Houston manager A.J. Hinch hasn't shown a lot of faith in his relievers in the postseason. Still a long way to go here.
The Yankees are trying to make yet another comeback in this postseason, and their MVP candidate Aaron Judge has started things off. Judge hit a mammoth seventh inning solo homer to center to put the Yankees' first run on the board and chase Astros' starter Lance McCullers. It was only the second hit McCullers had allowed all day. It was the second homer in as many days for Judge and his third of the playoffs.
Yasiel Puig signing.
NLCS Game 3 seventh-inning stretch duties will be handled by a couple of former Cubs pitchers tonight.
