Dodgers ‘walk off’ in SD on play at the plate
Ross Stripling fired a season-high 95 mph fastball Wednesday night, but he was more impressed with the velocity of the Dodgers’ third-string left fielder, Chris Taylor.
“CT93.3!” tweeted Stripling, after “CT3” Taylor saved the Dodgers’ 7-6 win over the Padres with a double-play catch and throw in the bottom of
“CT93.3!” tweeted Stripling, after “CT3” Taylor saved the Dodgers’ 7-6 win over the Padres with a double-play catch and throw in the bottom of the ninth, hauling in Manny Machado’s line drive and nailing Trent Grisham as the potential tying run at the plate with a Statcast-verified 93.3 mph one-hop strike to catcher Will Smith.
CT93.3! https://t.co/iRqT7THaJT
— Ross Stripling (@RossStripling) August 6, 2020
“Manny hit it pretty low, so I got a pretty good jump. I don’t think he really got into it,” said Taylor. “Luckily, my momentum was already taking me in and I just tried to get rid of it as quick as I could and make it easy on Will on one hop.”
Smith made a sweep tag on Grisham and the initial out call was confirmed on review for a walk-off double play.
“I don’t think I’ve ever ended a game on the defensive side like that,” said Taylor. “It was pretty exhilarating. Especially coming through for Kenley [Jansen].
“It was an exciting series, back and forth and hard-fought, and they have a lot of talented players, young players. I think they’re trying to make a statement and it was a big win, especially in that fashion. They fought back all the way to the last out, got to give them credit.”
No regrets from Padres manager Jayce Tingler.
“Manny squared a ball up to left field, and they made a hell of a play,” Tingler said. “It had to be a perfect throw, and it was a perfect one-hop throw and tag. We’re going to tag 10 out of 10 times on that.”
Taylor saved Jansen’s save of Striping’s third win. On a pitching staff with Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler and, initially, David Price, Stripling leads the staff at 3-0.