LOS ANGELES — Justin Turner savored every last stride as he followed in Kirk Gibson’s famous footsteps at Dodger Stadium.
The kid 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.
The red-bearded slugger 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 4 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 Dodgers are two victories 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.
“It’s very cool, and J.T., we were talking about it in there after the game,” Los Angeles Manager Dave Roberts said. “Twenty-nine years to the day. It was special. Our guys feel it.”
Turner’s home run gives this generation of Dodgers fans an historic home run to savor, and these Dodgers are growing increasingly confident they can earn their first World Series appearance since 1988.
Turner got swallowed up at home plate by pack of ecstatic teammates, just as Gibson did. Unlike Gibson, Turner spiked his batting helmet after rounding third, allowing his unruly red hair to go as wild as the crowd.
“What’s not to enjoy about it?” Turner asked. “We have an opportunity to bring a championship back to LA. It’s been a long time.”
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is set for 8 p.m. today at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Midseason acquisition Yu Darvish starts for the Dodgers against Kyle Hendricks.
The scored was tied 1-1 when Yasiel Puig drew his third walk of the game to lead off the ninth against left-hander Brian Duensing.
Charlie Culberson bunted him to Puig to second, and Duensing struck out pinch-hitter Kyle Farmer.
Chicago Manager Joe Maddon went to the bullpen for 38-year-old Lackey, who made 30 starts during the regular season, and asked him to get Turner to push the game into extra innings.
Lackey, who came on in relief in the seventh inning of Game 1 and pitched 1 2/3 innings, appeared on consecutive days for the first time in his 15-year career.
Lackey got the call over All-Star closer Wade Davis, and the veteran starter with a career record of 188-147, walked Chris Taylor on six tense pitches.
At a glance
NLCS (BEST-OF-7)
LOS ANGELES VS. CHICAGO SATURDAY’S GAME
Los Angeles 5, Chicago 2
SUNDAY’S GAME
Los Angeles 4, Chicago 1
Los Angeles leads series 2-0
TODAY’S GAME
Los Angeles (Darvish 10-12) at Chicago (Hendricks 7-5), 8:08 p.m. (TBS)
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Los Angeles (Wood 16-3) at Chicago (Arrieta 14-10), 8:08 p.m. (TBS)
THURSDAY’S GAME
x-Los Angeles at Chicago, 7:08 p.m. (TBS)
SATURDAY, OCT. 21
x-Chicago at Los Angeles, 3:08 p.m. or 7:08 p.m. (TBS)
SUNDAY, OCT. 22
x-Chicago at Los Angeles, 6:38 p.m. (TBS)
DODGERS 4, CUBS 1