ATLANTA — The Dodgers already had dropped their series against the Braves, but a 1-0 loss on the wrong side of a complete-game shutout from Chris Sale completed the sweep.
“There’s still a lot of the season left,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “Even before this series, regardless of the result, it wasn’t going to be a determinant on the season. So for us, I love that we’ve got [right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto] going. It’s going to be a good pitcher’s duel. We’ve got to go out there, compete, take good at-bats. For me honestly, just getting a game here would be a great thing and then head to Detroit.”
It was, indeed, a duel between Yamamoto and Sale.
Yamamoto gave up a leadoff homer to Drake Baldwin but was lights out from there, only allowing three more hits and striking out eight before he exited with one out in the seventh inning.
Sale was even better. He mowed down the Dodgers with 11 strikeouts, limiting them to just five hits in nine innings.
The Dodgers went up against an even crisper version of Sale than usual. His velocity was up overall, and the 100.1-mph fastball he threw Ohtani the second time through the order was his hardest-thrown pitch since 2018, according to MLB.com.
Sale got a standing ovation when he walked out for the ninth inning. And they booed when a safe call at first withstood replay review instead of ending the game on a double play. But Sale remained and had an even bigger final moment of the game: one more strikeout.
It was the 13th one-run game the Dodgers have played since the beginning of the month. And the constant small margins seem to be taking a toll, as the Dodgers’ bullpen and defense have wavered.
The solution would be to get the offense back to scoring in bunches. But that’s not a simple button the Dodgers can press, especially against pitchers of Sale’s caliber.
Dodgers entered the series riding a six-game winning streak against the Rockies and Pirates. But it’s been a long time since they’ve won against a good team. In fact, they haven’t won a series against any team that entered Thursday in playoff position since taking two of three from the Phillies on July 20-22.
In the interim, the Dodgers have gone 1-12 against playoff teams, including the series sweep against Atlanta.
“I know we’ve got a good ballclub,” Roberts said. “Baseball is one of those things where how you’re playing, who you’re playing, how they’re playing at a point in time — I didn’t know that statistic but I’d still take us against those winning teams. It just comes down to us having to play good baseball which for a six-game stretch we were on our way to doing.”
Tucker day off
Roberts sat still-slumping right fielder Kyle Tucker against Sale.
“I didn’t want to feel like I’m piling on against a really tough starter,” Roberts said. “Get him ready for the weekend.”
But Roberts said that wasn’t a reflection of how he’ll approach the postseason. If the Dodgers face the Braves in the playoffs, Roberts would expect to start Tucker in right field against Sale.
Roster move
As expected, the Dodgers put right-hander Roki Sasaki on the 15-day IL with a blister on the middle finger of his right hand on Thursday. In a corresponding move, they recalled hard-throwing reliever Seth Halvorsen.
“He’s probably our most rested reliever, and it’s going to come in hot,” Roberts said. “So I’m going to run him out there if the situation calls for it.”
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