Chris Taylor responding to Dodgers fans’ DFA wishes in best way possible

The Los Angeles Dodgers entered Game 3 of their series against one of their greatest historical rivals after an evening of blowout baseball for LA. In Game 2, they got 16 hits down and walked five times, and they put up 14 runs as a result. Almost every Dodger who got an at-bat got a hit (the only exception was Cavan Biggio), and four of them had multi-hit games.

One of those players was Chris Taylor, whose two-hit day was awarded with a start at third base in the series finale. The Giants put up three runs before the first Dodgers batter could even get a hit down (a double from Kiké Hernández), and LA's non-scoring continued into the fifth until Taylor came up for his second at-bat of the day.

The Giants were already up by nine thanks to a bum start from James Paxton, but Taylor insisted that the Dodgers wouldn't be shut out even if they had to take a series loss against San Francisco. He hit a solo homer 419 feet into the Giants' bullpen. In the seventh, he came up again with Gavin Lux on first after a walk and racked up his second RBI on the day.

Chris Taylor's recent surge will have some Dodgers fans eating their words

Taylor's awful first two and a half months have had some Dodgers fans (us included, to be totally fair), calling for his head (or, at least, a swift release from the team). The CT3 we were seeing through April and May was not the same CT3 who once hit three home runs in a postseason game. Taylor seemed to have lost his swing entirely, and he was batting .108 with his playing time decreasing significantly by the end of May.

However, with the trade deadline coming up, Taylor must've known that his time with the Dodgers could be in danger if he couldn't shape up. He took that seriously, and something seems to have clicked. With the two-hit Sunday, his batting average over his last seven games improved to .467, with a 1.233 OPS, a homer, and three RBI. His numbers over his last 14 improved to .270 with a .822 OPS.

While it would've been great if Taylor could've found this kind of mojo months ago, it's nice to know that he still has it in him and might actually be able to help the Dodgers get back to another 100-win season. Even though the Dodgers were ultimately blown up the Giants 10-4 on Sunday (even after Taylor walked and scored another run on an Austin Barnes two-run double), this is another sign that Taylor is trending in the right direction for the second half of the season.