Dodgers erupt with 5-run sixth capped by Chris Taylor home run

Perhaps Dodgers star Chris Taylor should’ve covered both eyes while trotting around the bases celebrating his monumental three-run shot in the sixth inning on Sunday night?

Might’ve been better remembered. Missed opportunity.

Guess he’ll just have to be satisfied with having extended his team’s lead to six runs in a hard-fought rivalry matchup.

Solid consolation prize!

Not typically the kind of person to take a power hack at 3-0, Taylor returned to the lineup Sunday night in style after being relegated to the bench for the previous three games of this series.

Clearly, the rest did him well, because he poured it on midway through Sunday’s game once the Padres bullpen checked in for duty. Very little panache here, but sometimes all it takes to win is putting your head down and drilling the baseball.

Dodgers star Chris Taylor was the anti-Fernando Tatis Jr. Sunday night.

For far too long in this contest, we were treated to an unconventional pitchers’ duel.

Dodgers No. 5 starter (still doesn’t feel real) Dustin May held down the fort, though Padres ace Joe Musgrove ended up laboring through a few innings before being removed early. Against all odds, San Diego’s bullpen toed the line until…Sheldon Neuse, with his second career home run, expanded a 2-1 lead to start off the sixth.

His first career dinger was earlier in the series! This one will hopefully matter more, even though his first homer tied Thursday’s game late.

Sheldon brought the Neuse, while Taylor brought the funk.

May made his presence very much felt in six two-hit innings of work, whiffing 10 Padres in a game many believed he wouldn’t be starting back in February.

David Price, of all people, entered in the seventh inning to relieve him and checked his ego at the door. Neuse and Taylor, displaying quiet excellence, went to work tattooing some middle-innings slop before handing the baton to the rest of the ‘pen.

For one night in this extremely Hollywood series, things stayed rather silent while the best team in baseball handled their business.

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