Taylor's game-ending error hands Nats another crushing loss

LOS ANGELES - For a split-second when the ball came off the bat, there was a fleeting thought it could be a double-play ball, one that would wrap up a much-needed victory for the Nationals. But then Yasiel Puig's hard grounder up the middle got past a diving Danny Espinosa, and so everyone inside Dodger Stadium immediately assumed it would be a simple single to center field, extending the bottom of the ninth.

But then as he came charging in, Michael A. Taylor's eyes gazed slightly upward, toward Howie Kendrick rounding second, the notion of a play at third base now foremost on the center fielder's mind.

What happened after that can only be described as pure chaos on a baseball diamond. Defensive players hitting the brakes and reversing course. Runners shifting into a higher gear, making a mad dash around the bases. Base coaches getting in position to make an all-important call that may or may not be obeyed. Pitchers spinning around to try to back up a new base. And a throng of 43,776 rising in awe, coaxing their guy through every step of his 360-foot scramble before roaring with delight at one of the most inexplicable turn of events they may ever see at a ballpark.

The final score was Dodgers 4, Nationals 3. The play that made that possible will be remember lovingly by everyone in Los Angeles for years to come, and remembered ruefully by everyone in Washington for god only knows how much longer.

"I was heading to back up third, and then I saw the third base coach sending people, so I ran to back up home, and then they were celebrating," said Shawn Kelley, the reliever who delivered the final pitch. "So I don't know. I still haven't seen really what happened."

What happened was this: Taylor, with that slight glance up, let the ball roll past his glove. It kept rolling all the way to the wall before left fielder Jayson Werth could run over and retrieve it. Werth fired the ball back toward the infield, where Daniel Murphy caught it on the run but was unable to get a grip on the ball in time to make a last-ditch throw to the plate in time to get Puig, who wound up with the kind of walk-off, pseudo inside-the-park home run typically reserved only for Saturday afternoons on Little League fields across America, not a 55,000-seat major league stadium.

"Very shocking," Taylor said minutes later, standing before cameras and reporter at his locker, still wearing his full uniform. "It's a ground ball. I've got to make that play."

It's the kind of play you simply assume a big league center fielder to make. But it's also the kind of misplay everyone has seen one time or another in their baseball-playing or baseball-watching lives.

And so the overwhelming message that came out of the Nationals clubhouse after this soul-crushing loss - the club's fifth straight to close out a thoroughly demoralizing West Coast trip - was one of support for their 25-year-old teammate.

"It's unfortunate, but he's hands down one of the best center fielders I've had out there," said right-hander Joe Ross, who tossed six innings of two-run ball to give the Nationals a chance to win their series finale. "Things happen. It won't be the last error that ever gets made in center field. But you can't blame him. Just a tough loss."

That it coincided with an 0-for-5, five-strikeout night at the plate for Taylor only made this one tougher to swallow.

"It's just a tough day," Taylor said. "0-for-5, I can handle. But when I do something like that to cost the team a game, it's pretty tough. ... I know this isn't the player that I am. Just a bad day."

The Nationals had positioned themselves well to win this game. Stuck in a 2-2 tie most of the evening, they finally took the lead in the top of the eighth on Wilson Ramos' towering homer to left. But they once again could not tack on any insurance runs despite ample opportunities, leaving the game in the hands of their reworked bullpen.

That relief corps did its job in encouraging fashion, with Oliver Perez and Felipe Rivero each recording two quick outs before Baker handed the ball to Kelley for a potential four-out save. Kelley got the first two outs required, but then he gave up a one-out single to Kendrick in the bottom of the ninth in advance of Puig's hit (which ultimately was scored as a single, with a three-base error charged to Taylor).

The details of the evening's first 8 1/2 innings, though, felt insignificant by night's end. When Taylor misplayed the ball and Puig raced around the bases in just over 15 seconds, the focus was entirely on the young center fielder who had just endured through about as tough a nightmare as any player is likely to experience on an otherwise innocuous Wednesday night in June.

"It was a tough day for Michael, period," Baker said. "Probably one of the toughest days he'll remember probably the rest of his career. But we've all had them. ... I'm sure he feels terrible. We've got to stay with him, give him some love. Because right now, he's probably feeling like the loneliest guy on Earth."