Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave the Dodgers seven sharp innings at Truist Park on Tuesday night, striking out 10 while allowing one run, and Los Angeles rode a fourth-inning jolt from Kiké Hernández and Freddie Freeman to a 3-1 Game 3 win over Atlanta. The Dodgers now lead the National League Division Series 2-1 and are one victory from returning to the NLCS.
The result
This one opened as the kind of October matchup both clubs had mapped out. Chris Sale had been held for this assignment after Atlanta’s Wild Card push, while the Dodgers had arranged their rested rotation with Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell ahead of Yamamoto. Through three scoreless frames, neither ace gave an inch.
Sale and Yamamoto each had six strikeouts through those first three innings. It marked the first postseason game since Clayton Kershaw and Jacob deGrom met in the opening game of the 2015 NLDS in which both starters reached six punchouts through three scoreless innings.
Los Angeles finally broke through in the fourth. Hernández drove a two-run homer off Sale to put the Dodgers on the board, then Freeman followed two batters later with a solo shot. Sale worked five innings but was charged with three runs, his first loss since Aug. 21.
Hernández’s blast was his 17th career postseason homer. His October power remains notably different from his regular-season pace: he has homered once every 19.5 postseason plate appearances, compared with once per 31.7 trips during the regular season.
“I wish there was a formula for it that everybody could use,” Freeman said of Hernández’s October production. “He’s amazing. When the moment comes, he is there.”
Freeman’s homer was the 18th playoff long ball of his career and his second in two games. It was a welcome turn after he had gone more than a month without an extra-base hit before this recent two-game burst.
Yamamoto made the three-run cushion stand. He set a personal postseason high with 10 strikeouts and kept Atlanta to one run over seven innings, winning the duel that had been waiting for both clubs since the series shifted south.
The Braves have scored seven runs across three games and will need more from the top of their order to extend the series. Leadoff man Drake Baldwin went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Game 3 and is 3-for-23 this postseason, a .130 average. Matt Olson finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts and is batting .174, going 4-for-23.
Ronald Acuña Jr. was moved to designated hitter roughly 90 minutes before first pitch in an effort to manage his sore right knee. He went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Acuña is 3-for-21 in the postseason, batting .143 with a .451 OPS, and has not produced an extra-base hit since Sept. 19.
“Those players have carried us all season,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “Whenever they come up, you expect something positive. They are one plate appearance from changing a game.”
Los Angeles also continues to wait for Shohei Ohtani to find his rhythm. Dropped to fifth in the lineup, Ohtani went 0-for-2, drew a walk and reached once on catcher’s interference.
The rotation next
Atlanta turns to Tyler Mahle in Game 4 on Wednesday at Truist Park, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. ET. The Braves entered their home portion of the series feeling well placed after splitting the first two games in Los Angeles and lining up Sale and Mahle for Games 3 and 4.
That setup now demands a response from Mahle. A Braves win would send the series back to Los Angeles for a winner-take-all Game 5, where Atlanta would likely need every available arm. Sale could be part of that relief picture, as he was during the Wild Card Series, but the Braves have to survive Wednesday first.
Game 4 will air on FS1, FOX Deportes and FOX One.
