Ray Kerr gave Atlanta the kind of opening it needed Sunday night, working 2 2/3 scoreless innings as the Braves edged the Dodgers, 3-2, at Dodger Stadium and pulled the National League Division Series even at one game apiece.
The result
Atlanta’s decision to save Chris Sale for Game 3 looked far more comfortable by the end of Game 2. Kerr, who had thrown 47 pitches while opening the Braves’ Wild Card Series clincher against Philadelphia only three days earlier, again answered the call.
He left with a 1-0 lead, retired Shohei Ohtani twice, and logged six shutout innings across his two postseason starts. Kerr finished just three outs short of Dodgers starter Blake Snell, who could not settle into a long outing.
Snell threw 90 pitches in 3 2/3 innings and issued five walks, turning a matchup that seemed built around starting pitching into a bullpen night on both sides. The Dodgers’ relievers now have Monday’s off-day before the series resumes.
Los Angeles did get a needed sign from Freddie Freeman. Down by one in the fourth, Freeman drove a solo homer that tied the game. It was his first extra-base hit since Sept. 2, ending a drought of more than a month without one.
Thirteen of Freeman’s 17 postseason homers have either tied a game or put his club ahead. Only Jose Altuve, with 14, has hit more postseason home runs in those situations. Freeman entered this series after batting .167, going 12-for-72 with 21 strikeouts and two walks over his final 18 regular-season games, but he is 3-for-7 with a homer and a walk through two NLDS games.
The bullpen moments
The fifth inning offered another reminder that both clubs may need late-game help beyond their marquee starters. Robert Suarez entered with two aboard, nobody out and Atlanta holding a one-run edge. He retired the Dodgers’ Nos. 3, 4 and 5 hitters in order to keep the inning from breaking open.
Edwin Díaz answered for Los Angeles in the sixth, striking out two during a clean inning. He also reached his highest velocity since the 2024 NLDS.
Neither closer had a smooth regular season after signing a major free-agent deal last December. The Dodgers gave Díaz three years and $69 million, while Atlanta signed Suarez for three years and $45 million.
Díaz struggled early, then lost four months to right elbow and neck injuries before returning in late September in lower-leverage work. Suarez missed roughly three months after right elbow discomfort surfaced on June 19 and did not come back until the final week of the regular season. Sunday offered a glimpse of what both teams hoped they had bought.
The rotation next
The series shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Tuesday, scheduled for 6 p.m. ET and 3 p.m. PT. Sale will start for the Braves, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the ball for Los Angeles.
Atlanta also has Tyler Mahle lined up for Game 4, giving the Braves the two starters they wanted for the return home. The Dodgers had opted to open with Tarik Skubal and use Snell in Game 2, a sequence designed to position Yamamoto favorably for the rest of the postseason while still handling the immediate series.
Now the division series is a race to two more wins, with rested aces set to take the mound and the late innings already showing how quickly this matchup can turn.
