ATLANTA — The Dodgers went into Game 3 of the National League Division Series knowing they couldn’t be so reliant on the home run, especially with Braves ace Chris Sale on the mound. And yet, in a 3-1 win, it was the home run ball, paired with a masterful performance on the mound from right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, that secured the victory.
The Dodgers pulled ahead to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
The Dodgers tried to score in other ways, putting on six baserunners in the first three innings of the game. But it didn’t work.
They failed to take advantage of some luck and poor defense from the Braves in the first inning, as Mookie Betts beat out a soft ground ball up the first base line and Teoscar Hernández reached on a fielding error by Braves shortstop Ha-Seong Kim.
The lineup shuffling manager Dave Roberts did against Sale had superstar Shohei Ohtani, batting fifth, walking up to the plate with two outs and runners on first and second. His over-anxious approach at the plate so far this postseason followed him into the at-bat. And he struck out whiffing on a slider in the opposite batter’s box.
The next inning, Kyle Tucker hit a two-out single into left, baited Sale into picking over to first base twice, and then stole second. But he was stranded there, as Kiké Hernández went down swinging. All six of the Dodgers’ outs in the first two innings came via the strikeout.
In the third, the Dodgers loaded the bases. Mookie Betts started the effort with a double through the left side of the infield. And it looked for a moment as if Freddie Freeman had capitalized on the opportunity with a runner in scoring position.
He stayed back on a fastball and crushed it to deep left field, on a trajectory to just clear the short fence. But Braves left fielder Mauricio Dubón made a leaping catch, holding into the ball as he slammed into the wall.
Undeterred, the Dodgers kept putting runners on base. With two outs, Will Smith stayed through a slider to single. Ohtani clipped Braves catcher Drake Baldwin’s mitt and was awarded first base for catcher’s interference. Then Miguel Rojas, who’d exit the game in the eighth inning mid-at-bat with what the Dodgers called low back pain, hit a line drive that found leather to end the inning.
So, back to the long ball.
Perennial postseason hero Kiké Hernández delivered the first blow. With Andy Pages on first, after his first hit of the series, Hernández launched a changeup into the left-field stands. Then, two batters later, Freeman turned on an inside sinker and sent it over the right-field fence — where Dubón had no chance to track it down.
Game 3 was billed as a matchup between aces: Sale, who the Braves tabbed for Tuesday because of his workload in their wild-card series, and Yamamoto, who the Dodgers partially held back for the first two games with the NLCS in mind.
Yamamoto held up his end of the bargain, limiting the Braves to four hits and one run in seven innings.
He retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced. The only baserunner in that time, Michael Harris II, bunted for a single. Yamamoto crashed hard, slipping on the slick grass as he tried to pivot but still managing to make a throw to first from the ground.
He only wavered in the fifth, loading the bases with a pair of singles and a four-pitch walk. The Braves’ batting order turned over, and Yamamoto got Baldwin to ground out to first, but that allowed a run. Then he induced Ronald Acuña Jr. to ground out to second to escape the jam. Rojas ranged to his left to field the ball and made an on-target throw even as he slipped on the grass in shallow right field.
Yamamoto didn’t allow another baserunner.
Left-handed reliever Tanner Scott served as the Dodgers’ setup man, throwing a hitless eigth. And right-hander Edwin Díaz came in for his first save opportunity since Aug. 14 against the Brewers.
He gave up a double off the wall to Ozzie Albies to open the inning but retired the next three batters.
The post Dodgers beat Braves on Kiké Hernández and Freddie Freeman homers, take 2-1 NLDS lead appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
