Twenty-one-year-old middle infielder Gavin Lux has been a Dodger for exactly 31 days. On the day of his September 2, 2019 call-up to the big league club, he became the first Dodger player in the so-called live-ball era (since 1920) to score three or more runs in his major league debut; this after hitting a single in his first major league at-bat (on the very first pitch) and a double in his second off of Colorado Rockies right-handers Peter Lambert and Yency Almonte respectively.

On Thursday night in Game-1 of the 2019 National League Division Series against the Washington Nations in front of a sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd of 53,095, the young Kenosha, WI native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2016 out of Indian Trail High School in Kenosha became the youngest player in franchise history to hit a home run in a postseason game.

“I didn’t even know that, it’s pretty cool. I don’t know what else to say,” Lux told reporters when told of his second historical feat in 31 days following the Dodgers 6-0 rout of the Nationals.

What makes Lux’s eighth-inning solo home run off of Nationals right-hander Hunter Strickland even more incredible is that it was a pinch-hit home run. In fact, at the last second, Lux took the spot of supposed left-handed pinch-hitter Matt Beaty, who was in the on-deck circle to bat for Dodgers right-hander Kenta Maeda. In other words, Lux had absolutely zero time to get ready for his first-ever postseason at-bat.

“Yeah, I didn’t know, I thought Matt was hitting,” Lux said. “I still had my batting gloves in the cage because I was hitting off of the machine all game just trying to stay ready. I honestly didn’t watch a whole ton of the game on the field because I was so anxious. But yeah, I didn’t really know until literally when I walked up because I thought Matt was going to hit. So yeah, it was cool. I didn’t have enough time to really think about it.”

It would be criminal not to mention the fact that Dodgers right-handed starter Walker Buehler was nothing short of sensational in his 6.0 innings of work. All the 25-year-old Lexington, KY native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2015 out of Vanderbilt University did was allow no runs and only one hit while walking three and striking out eight.

“There’s guys that want those opportunities, like those big moments, and want to be the guy,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “From that first throw, he was on point tonight.”

Want those opportunities indeed. This is what Dodgers veteran third baseman Justin Turner had to say about Buehler:

“If you know Walker, it’s not surprising. He’s very, very, very, very, very confident in himself. He loves it. He thrives on these situations, and you saw it again tonight.”

We very much did.

Well done, young men.

Play Ball!

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