Turner’s homer lifts Dodgers
Justin Turner of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting a threerun walk-off home run in the ninth inning to defeat the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series. AFP
Los Angeles crushes Chicago to seize 2-0 lead in NLCS
LOS ANGELES – Justin Turner savored every last stride as he followed in Kirk Gibson’s famous footsteps at Dodger Stadium.
The red-bearded slugger from Southern California knew all about the history attached to this home run trot.
On the 29th anniversary of Gibson’s celebrated pinch-hit homer that shocked Oakland in the 1988 World Series opener, Turner added another landmark shot to Los Angeles Dodgers postseason lore.
Turner hit a three-run drive with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-1, on Sunday to take a 2-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.
“One of my earliest baseball memories was being at my grandma’s house and watching that game in ’88 and seeing Gibby hit that homer,” said Turner, who wasn’t quite four years old at the time. “So yeah, it feels pretty cool. I thought about doing the fist-pump around the bases, but we’ll wait until we get to the World Series for that, hopefully.”
The dominant Dodgers are two wins away after Turner drove in all four runs in Game 2 to keep Los Angeles unbeaten in the postseason.
He delivered a tying single in the fifth before sending a long shot to center field off John Lackey in the ninth. Completing the poetry of the moment, a fan wearing a blue Dodgers jersey took a few steps onto a walkway and gracefully caught the ball in his glove on the fly.
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