In their words: Nine Dodgers take you inside Justin Turner’s moment
By Cary Osborne
They were in the bullpen and in the dugout. One was on base. Another was in the on-deck circle.
John Lackey was behind 1–0 on Justin Turner with Yasiel Puig on second base and Chris Taylor was on first. The score was tied 1–1 with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 2 of the National League Championship Series Sunday night at Dodger Stadium.
Lackey threw a fastball to Justin Turner who swung and connected. Then …
Cody Bellinger, who was in the on-deck circle:
“I had a front-row seat. Right guy at the plate. I think we would all pick him in that certain situation. I think I threw my bat. I think I almost hit Joc (Pederson) with my bat or my helmet or something. I just started jumping. I don’t even remember what I did.”
Logan Forsythe, who was in the camera well in the Dodger dugout:
“It was me, Charlie (Culberson) and Turner Ward. Ball leaves the bat. From my angle I thought it was a home run. I didn’t want to get too excited too quickly. When I saw (Turner) put his head down and slow trot, that’s when we all went crazy, and that was one of the better walkoffs I’ve ever been part of.”
Josh Fields, who pitched in the eighth inning then went into the clubhouse, ultimately sensing he needed to return to the dugout to watch the game unfold:
“I did my arm work (after pitching) and was trying to rush through it so I could get back out there, especially with Puig getting on to start the ninth inning. It was pretty pressing. I needed to be in the dugout. I told somebody as I was coming out, they asked where I was going, and I said I need to be back out there when we take this thing. It was awesome. I was on the rail. As soon as he hit it I knew he struck it well, but since I never see balls off the bat from the dugout sometimes I can’t tell if they’ll catch it at the wall. So I’m holding off till I saw it over the wall. My reaction was the same as everyone else — hands up, and I’m running to home plate.”
Chris Taylor, who was on first base:
“He’s probably the most clutch player I’ve ever played with. … I was pretty sure (it was gone) off the bat. If that ball didn’t get out I would have been just as mad as everyone else. I think he got every bit of that.”
Curtis Granderson, who was in the dugout:
“I saw him make the swing and knew he hit it well and thought it had a good shot of getting out of the ballpark. There’s definitely been some good moments I’ve seen in my career. Magglio Ordoñez (hitting a walkoff in Game 4 of the 2006 American League Championship Series) to get us to the World Series in ’06 was probably similar to that one, especially at the home ballpark and to be able to do it in front of your home fans.”
Kenta Maeda, who was warming up in the bullpen to come in in the 10th inning:
“It was awesome. I was hoping we would walk off. I was jumping around and celebrating. It was an awesome game. Awesome.”
Ross Stripling, who was watching through a window in the Dodger bullpen:
“It was only me, (Tony) Cingrani, (Luis) Avilan was sitting down there. Kenta was warming up. (Bullpen coach) Josh Bard and the catchers were outside. Off the bat you could see through the little window out there that it was hit well, but you never have a clue how well. Then trying to judge his reaction you couldn’t quite tell, so we basically judged the crowd instead. And then everyone waits. Then an unreal burst of emotion from the crowd. We jumped up and did a three-way hug, three-way high-five and ran outside. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever been a part of. It was awesome.”
Tony Cingrani:
“We can’t see much down there, but once we saw it go over we were pretty elated. It was just awesome. He’s a clutch hitter. Walk-off home runs are awesome. Postseason walk-off home runs, I would love to do that. That would be one highlight I’d love to have on my resume, which I’ll never get. I can’t hit a home run. It would have to be an inside-the-park home run.”
And the man himself, Justin Turner:
“Well, I hit a ball pretty good to center earlier in the game, and (Cubs center fielder Albert) Almora’s an unbelievable center fielder. He’s been taking hits away from us every time we play him. So I was just watching him hoping he wasn’t going to catch it. When it did end up going over the fence, obviously I was fairly excited.”
