At huge Dodger Stadium, Chicago reached base first, as Jon Jay led off the top of the first inning with a single off of starter Rich Hill.
But hereafter, rightfielder Yasiel Puig made a nice catch in the bright sun and Hill closed with two strikeouts.
In the bottom of the first inning, Jon Lester retired the side.
In this at bat, it was Chicago-centerfielder Albert Almora, Jr., who picked up a line drive hit by Justin Turner well despite the sun and caught it in front of the wall.
After Hill had retired the side in the top of the second inning, the Dodgers got their first baserunner in the home half when Kiké Hernández led off with a walk.
With two outs, Yasiel Puig also walked, but the runners were left behind.
Chicago got close to opening the score in the top of the third inning when it got a runner on third base.
Javier Báez led off with a walk, then stole second base with one out and moments later reached third on a wild pitch, but he stranded as a groundout and strikeout followed.
In the bottom of the third, it was Los Angeles that advanced to third base for the first time.
With two outs, Justin Turner walked, then Cody Bellinger doubled, but they also were left behind.
In the top of the fifth inning, it was Chicago that scored first again, just as in the opener on Saturday.
The Cubs scored its first run when Addison Russell led off the at bat with a homerun down the leftfield-line.
With two outs, pitcher Jon Lester singled, but he stranded on first base.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Los Angeles also scored.
Charlie Culberson led off with a double.
He was added to the NLCS-roster of the Dodgers as a replacement for injured Corey Seager.
In the opener, Culberson was 1-for-2 (double), scored a run and batted in one.
With Culberson on second base, veteran Curtis Granderson was inserted as pinch-hitter for Rich Hill.
The 36-year old Granderson, who plays in the Majors since 2004, joined the Dodgers in August after a trade with the New York Mets.
He played in 36 games for the Dodgers and homered seven times.
So far in this postseason, he is mostly used as a pinch-hitter or a late-inning replacement.
Granderson is known for giving many youth clinics and he also did so twice in the Netherlands.
Granderson popped out in foul territory, then Culberson moved to third base on a grounder by Chris Taylor.
Moments later, Culberson scored the tying run on a single by Justin Turner.
Hereafter, Cody Bellinger walked and that ended the evening for Jon Lester.
Carl Edwards, Jr. took over and he closed the inning by striking out pinch-hitter Chase Utley, meaning two runners were left behind.
Hereafter, the relievers did very well and three scoreless innings.
Brandon Morrow took over the Dodger-pitching from Rich Hill in the top of the sixth and retired the side in both the sixth and seventh inning.
Carl Edwards, Jr. got three outs in a row for the Cubs in the bottom of the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, Pedro Strop became the new Chicago-pitcher.
Strop walked Chris Taylor with two outs, but he was left behind.
...Kenley Jansen was the winning pitcher for the Dodgers...
...On the photo, he is with the Netherlands Team during...
...the 2017 World Baseball Classic in March...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the top of the eighth, Josh Fields relieved Morrow.
He got a flyout from Javier Báez, then was replaced by Tony Watson, who retired the next two hitters.
In the bottom of the eighth, Chicago Manager Joe Maddon went to the bullpen again and brought in Brian Duensing to take over from Pedro Strop.
He got a grounder from lead-off hitter Cody Bellinger to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who tossed the ball to Duensing.
However, Duensing had no control over the ball, dropped it, Bellinger was safe and was credited with an infield-hit.
Bellinger moved into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt by Joc Pederson.
To set up a force play, Logan Forsythe was walked intentionally.
The force doesn't always comes after an intentional pass, but this time it did, as Austin Barnes grounded into an inning-ending double play.
While the score was tied, closer Kenley Jansen took the mound for the Dodgers in the top of the ninth inning.
He struckout lead-off hitter Kris Bryant, but then hit next hitter Anthony Rizzo with a pitch.
Rizzo led the Major League this season with 24 times being hit.
With Rizzo on first base, Jansen struckout Willson Contreras, then got a grounder from Albert Almora, Jr. to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers got their lead-off hitter on base when Yasiel Puig walked.
The Cuban was moved into scoring position via a sacrifice bunt by Charlie Culberson.
Hereafter, Brian Duensing struckout pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer, who was hitting for Kenley Jansen.
That was followed by a double-switch, as John Lackey was brought in as new pitcher.
The veteran walked Chris Taylor and that brought Justin Turner in the batter's box, who was hitting 5-for-7 with runners in scoring position so far this postseason.
And Turner produced again, as he drilled the second pitch he saw into deep centerfield for a walk-off, 3-run homerun!
That made it a 4-1 final score for the Dodgers and gave them a 2-0 lead in the Series,
And it made Kenley Jansen the winning pitcher!
Justin Turner's walk-off homerun was the first by a Dodger-player in the postseason since Kirk Gibson hit one exactly 29 years ago!
On October 15, 1988, Los Angeles opened the World Series at home against Oakland Athletics and won 5-4 on a walk-off homerun by Gibson.
He was injured and it was not sure he could play.
His hobbling around the bases and pumping his fist around second base became a historic moment in World Series-history.
It was Gibson's lone at bat in the Series.
This is also the last World Series that was won by the Dodgers!
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Dodgers win second game on walk-off homerun by Justin Turner
LOS ANGELES, California (USA) -
Los Angeles Dodgers won 4-1 against Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series on Sunday-evening (October 15) on a walk-off homerun by Justin Turner.
Los Angeles opened the Series on Saturday with a 5-2 victory and now leads 2-0.
The Series now moved to Chicago, where Game 3 will be played on Tuesday.
Defending World Series-champion Chicago opened the score in the fifth inning on a homerun by Addison Russell, but Los Angeles came alongside in its fifth on a single by Justin Turner.
After strong relief-pitching from both teams, the Dodgers won the game in the bottom of the ninth inning on a 3-run homerun by Turner!