Slyke's reach and over the wall for a home run. The Dodgers were now just three outs from forcing Game 7. In the ninth, Niedenfuer struck out César Cedeño, but McGee singled and stole second. With Ozzie Smith's prior success against Niedenfuer—a homer and triple in his last two at-bats—the Dodgers walked him and induced a ground out from Tommy Herr. With runners at second and third and two out, the obvious question faced Lasorda: "do you walk Clark to the open first base or do you pitch to him?" Niedenfuer had struck out Clark in the seventh. By contrast, the next two hitters in the Cardinal line-up, Van Slyke and Pendleton, were having miserable series. But Lasorda opted to pitch to Clark. Clark promptly drilled Niedenfuer's first fastball into the left field stands for a pennant-winning home run. Demoralized, the Dodgers went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth, with Pedro Guerrero popping up for the final out. The Cardinals would eventually lose in 7 games to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series. Composite box 1985 NLCS (4–2): St. Louis Cardinals over Los Angeles Dodgers Aftermath For Jack Clark, the game-winning home run in Game 6 was of extra significance. Clark was a member of the San Francisco Giants from 1975-1984, a period where the Dodgers often dominated their rival. “There was a lot of payback for a lot of reasons,” Clark said. “For all those years in Candlestick Park. “Not only was it bad enough just having to play there, but the Dodgers kept whipping up on us every year.” Ironically, Clark was the Dodgers' hitting coach from 2001-2003. What followed for Los Angeles was back-to-back losing seasons in 1986 and 1987. They were the only back-to-back losing seasons in the Lasorda-era for the Dodgers (1976-1996). In 1988, John Tudor was traded to the Dodgers in exchange for Pedro Guerrero at the trade deadline. The Dodgers would win the World Series in 1988, as Tudor helped stabilize the Dodgers' rotation down the stretch, going 4-3 in nine starts with a 2.41 ERA, although he was mostly ineffective in the postseason. To complete the trade, Guerrero signed a three-year contract with the Cardinals. He enjoyed another All-Star season in 1989, hitting .311/.391/.477 with 17 home runs, 117 runs batted in and a league-leading 42 doubles and finished third in NL MVP voting. It was the third time