On a Sunday night when every measurable advantage belonged to the home team, the Los Angeles Dodgers discovered that advantages must be converted, not merely possessed. Atlanta's Braves, pitching-weary from a wild-card series, found oxygen in the Dodgers' missed opportunities and left Chavez Ravine with a 3-2 victory that evened the National League Division Series. It is an old lesson in sport and in life: the burden of expectation can be heavier than the burden of necessity.
Dodgers squander homefield edge, fall to Braves to even NLDS
They gave away every edge they had.
Mark
The Dodgers came in with every advantage. What exactly did they have that they didn't use?
Mimi
Home field, a rested lineup, and a Braves pitching staff that had been worked hard in the wild-card round. The plan was to attack early and often, not let their relievers settle in.
Luke
But did the Braves actually have a tired staff, or is that just what people assumed? The source says they used Ray Kerr as an opener, but doesn't say he was gassed.
Mimi
Fair point. What we know is the Dodgers failed to score off him or even run up his pitch count. They got two hits, stranded both runners, and let him out after three innings.
Mark
How does that happen? They have Freeman, Ohtani, Betts—elite hitters.
Mimi
Execution broke down. Freeman singled to open the second, Rojas doubled to open the third. But Edman bunted into a pop-up, Betts walked, and Ohtani popped up on a full count with two on. They didn't advance a single runner.
Luke
So it wasn't that the Braves' pitching was untouchable. It was that the Dodgers didn't execute.
Mimi
Exactly. And then Snell's start fell apart. He loaded the bases in the first inning and threw 27 pitches just getting out of it.
Mark
Did he recover?
Mimi
No. By the fourth inning, he was at 90 pitches and had issued five walks. Roberts pulled him. The Braves' opener lasted just as long, but the Dodgers had already wasted their chance.
Luke
What about the defensive play that led to the go-ahead run?
Mimi
Teoscar Hernández took a bad route to a line drive in the fifth inning. He drifted too shallow, had to backpedal, and missed it by inches. Michael Harris reached third, then scored on a wild pitch.
Mark
So multiple small failures added up to a loss.
Mimi
Yes. And now they're heading to Atlanta tied in the series, having surrendered the home-field advantage they came in with.
O Pulso
- The Dodgers entered Game 2 with home-field advantage, a rested roster, and a Braves pitching staff running on fumes — and still could not find a way to win.
- Blake Snell burned through 27 pitches in the first inning alone, and by the fourth his night was over, leaving the bullpen to hold a fragile lead it could not protect.
- A misread fly ball by Teoscar Hernández turned into a triple, a wild pitch turned that triple into the go-ahead run, and Atlanta's margin of error suddenly became a margin of victory.
- The Dodgers' offense, built to punish exhausted pitching, instead gave Braves opener Ray Kerr exactly what he needed — soft contact, stranded runners, and a quiet exit on his own terms.
- Max Muncy's ninth-inning home run offered a flicker of hope, but the Braves' relievers had already retired 14 of the previous 15 batters, and a pinch-hit pop-up ended it.
- The series now moves to Atlanta, where Chris Sale and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will meet in a matchup that may decide whether the Dodgers' squandered home advantage becomes a fatal wound.
On a Sunday night when every measurable advantage belonged to the home team, the Los Angeles Dodgers discovered that advantages must be converted, not merely possessed. Atlanta's Braves, pitching-weary from a wild-card series, found oxygen in the Dodgers' missed opportunities and left Chavez Ravine with a 3-2 victory that evened the National League Division Series. It is an old lesson in sport and in life: the burden of expectation can be heavier than the burden of necessity.
The Dodgers walked into Sunday night holding every advantage a playoff team could want — home crowd, fresh legs, and a Braves staff worn thin by the wild-card round. By the final out, they had converted none of it. Atlanta won 3-2, and the NLDS is now a series.
The unraveling was gradual. Blake Snell loaded the bases with one out in the first, escaped with only one run allowed, but spent 27 pitches doing it. The damage was slow and structural: by the fourth inning, after his fifth walk, his pitch count had reached 90 and Dave Roberts had seen enough. Meanwhile, the Dodgers did nothing to chase Braves opener Ray Kerr. Two hits, two stranded runners, and a Tommy Edman bunt pop-up with a runner on second summed up an offense that Roberts had promised would "expose" Atlanta's taxed pitching. Instead, it gave that staff room to breathe.
Freddie Freeman tied it with a solo home run in the fourth, but the lead lasted one inning. In the fifth, Teoscar Hernández took a poor route to a Michael Harris II line drive, drifted too shallow, and watched the ball carom off the wall as Harris reached third standing up. Two outs, 0-and-2 count — and then a Kris Bubic sweeper skipped past catcher Will Smith. Harris scored. A run that should never have existed had just put Atlanta ahead.
The Braves added another in the seventh on an Olson single and a Harris RBI double. The Dodgers' relievers kept them close — Roki Sasaki escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and retired the ninth in order — but Atlanta's bullpen was nearly untouchable, retiring 15 of the last 16 batters. Only Max Muncy's ninth-inning home run broke through. Pinch-hitter Josue De Paula, making his postseason debut, popped up in foul territory to end it.
The series shifts to Atlanta, where Chris Sale will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a game the Dodgers now need more than they expected to.
The Dodgers walked into Dodger Stadium on Sunday night holding every advantage a team could want in a playoff game. They had the home crowd, the fresh legs, and a Braves pitching staff that had been run ragged through a wild-card series. By the time the final out was recorded, they had squandered all of it. Atlanta left with a 3-2 victory, and the National League Division Series was even.
The loss began with small failures that compounded. Blake Snell, the Dodgers' starter, opened by loading the bases with one out—a single to Ronald Acuña Jr., walks to Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies. He escaped with only one run, a grounder up the middle from Mauricio Dubón that Mookie Betts could not turn into an out. But the escape came at a cost: 27 pitches in a single inning. By the fourth, after issuing his fifth walk with two outs, Snell's pitch count had reached 90. Manager Dave Roberts pulled him from the game. The Braves' opener, Ray Kerr, had lasted just as long, but the Dodgers had done nothing to accelerate his exit. They managed two hits off him—a single by Freddie Freeman in the second inning and a double by Miguel Rojas in the third—and stranded both runners. With Rojas on second and two outs, Tommy Edman bunted into a pop-up, Mookie Betts drew a walk, and Shohei Ohtani popped up on a full count. The Dodgers' offense, which Roberts had said before the series would "expose" the Braves' taxed pitching staff if they took the right approach, instead gave that staff exactly what it needed: air to breathe.
Freeman answered in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run to tie the game. But the Dodgers' reprieve lasted only one inning. In the fifth, with two outs and an 0-and-2 count, Kris Bubic threw a sweeper to Michael Harris II that sailed high and outside. The pitch got away from catcher Will Smith, skipping past his glove and onto the grass behind home plate. Harris should never have been in position to score on a wild pitch in the first place. Teoscar Hernández, playing left field, had taken a poor route to Harris's line drive into the corner, drifting too shallow and then having to backpedal. He missed the ball by inches. It caromed off the wall, and Harris reached third standing up. The wild pitch that followed sent him home.
The Braves added another run in the seventh when Edgardo Henriquez gave up a single to Matt Olson and an RBI double to Harris. The Dodgers' late-inning offense never materialized. Roki Sasaki escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth with a double play and retired the side in order in the ninth. The Braves' relievers retired 15 of the last 16 batters they faced, with only Max Muncy's solo home run in the ninth breaking through. Josue De Paula, making his postseason debut as a pinch-hitter with two outs in the ninth, popped up in foul territory to end it.
The series now shifts to Atlanta for Games 3 and 4. Chris Sale, the Braves' All-Star, will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a matchup that will determine whether the Dodgers can reclaim the advantage they held—and lost—on their home field.
Citações Notáveis
The advantage for us is we have an opportunity to not let their pitching staff come up for air. We have an opportunity to really expose them if we take the right at-bats and the right approach.— Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager, before the series
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Leia o original em Los Angeles Times ↗