Walker Buehler lived up to his reputation as a big-game pitcher and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bats came back to life to defeat the San Francisco Giants, 7-2, in Game 4 of the National League Division Series.
The Dodgers provided early run support for Buehler as Trea Turner drove home Corey Seager with an RBI double in the first inning. Singles by Gavin Lux and Cody Bellinger then set the table in the bottom of the second for Chris Taylor, who lifted a sacrifice fly to left field.
Lux and Bellinger helped manufacture another run when they both reached base to begin the fifth, allowing Mookie Betts to add to the Dodgers’ lead with a sacrifice fly of his own. Betts hit a two-run homer in the previous inning and finished his night with a team-high three RBI.
“They turned the lineup over, and that’s huge,” Betts said of Lux and Bellinger. “Just turning it over and getting it to the top guys, getting some guys on base.
“Walker obviously got a big hit there and I was able to hit a homer after that. But those guys at the bottom, we have to be able to score runs one through nine, and it can’t just come from one section of the lineup.
“So those guys getting hits down and just creating havoc, and they run the bases, they do everything that we need them to do and that’s going to be huge going forward for us.”
Lux reached safely in all four of his plate appearances while Bellinger collected two hits in four at-bats. Both players performed well down the stretch and have carried over that momentum into the postseason.
“I think that just talking to Cody, talking to Gavin, things of whatever it takes to help the ballclub win,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“When I hear things like that and I believe it and trust it, then it’s kind of whatever happens, happens. I’m going to be prepared and like I said, in the postseason, playing with your back against the wall, win-or-go-home game, there’s natural kind of anxiety or pressure, whatever you want to call it.
“But I think if you have that mindset, it just alleviates some of it. And I think that Gavin being in the batter’s box and in the outfield, Cody in the batter’s box, he’s forgotten what happened in the regular season and he’s present and I think that when I believe that, then I can trust it.
“I think that’s been a big kind of driver in their kind of success so far in the postseason.”
Lux will be in Dodgers lineup for Game 5 of NLDS
Having emerged as an important part of the lineup, Roberts confirmed Lux will start for the Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLDS.
“He’s going to play,” Roberts said after his club staved off elimination with a 7-2 win. “He’ll be in there somewhere, yeah.”
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