The Los Angeles Dodgers beat Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of their National League Division Series, riding a dominant start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto and home runs by Kike Hernandez and Freddie Freeman to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five matchup.
Yamamoto, the World Series MVP, delivered another spectacular postseason outing: seven innings, one run allowed and 10 strikeouts. He kept Atlanta off balance all night, working out of his only real trouble in the fifth inning after the Braves loaded the bases on singles by Mauricio Dubon and Lane Thomas and a walk to Rowdy Tellez. Drake Baldwin grounded out to first to bring in a run, but Yamamoto bore down and got Ronald Acuna Jr. to ground out to second to end the threat.
Sale, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who had dominated the Dodgers in August with a complete-game shutout, allowing just five hits and striking out 11, did not have his best stuff. Two first-inning baserunners and long counts drove up his pitch count, and only the Dodgers' struggles with runners in scoring position kept the game close early. Los Angeles finally broke through in the fourth. Andy Pages singled to lead off the inning, and after Kyle Tucker struck out, Hernandez — starting his first game of the postseason — crushed a low changeup into the left-field seats for a 2-0 lead. A few hitters later, Freeman hit another home run, this one well beyond the reach of Dubon in left field.
The Braves had a chance to shift the momentum in the third when Mookie Betts was on first and Freeman sent a deep fly ball to left that looked headed over the wall, until Dubon made a spectacular play to bring it back. Atlanta's comeback attempt in the ninth also fell short. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made a gutsy and controversial choice to close it out with Edwin Diaz, who finished the regular season with an 8.68 ERA in 21 games, blew four of 11 save opportunities and was not guaranteed a postseason roster spot. Diaz immediately gave up a ringing leadoff double to Ozzie Albies, putting the tying run at the plate. But he recovered, getting Michael Harris to ground out, Dubon to fly out in foul territory without the run scoring, and pinch hitter Mike Yastrzemski to hit a soft grounder to short to end it.
The series had been tight from the start. In Game 1, the Dodgers jumped out to a 5-1 lead on home runs by Teoscar Hernandez, Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy, only for the Braves to battle back in the ninth on a two-run homer by Albies. Game 2 seemed set up for Los Angeles to take command, but Atlanta chose to give Sale another few days of rest, as it had for much of the regular season, and went with a bullpen game opened by Ray Kerr. Kerr was excellent, and reliever Didier Fuentes was even better, going 3.2 innings with just one run allowed. Two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell walked five but limited the damage to one run. Atlanta pushed across two runs, one coming after Teoscar Hernandez misplayed a fly ball into a triple for Harris, who then scored on a wild pitch by reliever Kris Bubic. Muncy homered with the Dodgers down to their last strike to make it 3-2, but Josue De Paula popped up to end it and even the series.
Beating Sale gives the Dodgers a tremendous advantage heading into Game 4 on Wednesday night, when Tyler Mahle is scheduled to start for Atlanta. Mahle has been outstanding since the trade deadline, though his career track record is less impressive. Los Angeles knows its worst-case scenario is Tyler Glasnow for Game 4 and Tarik Skubal for Game 5. The Braves, meanwhile, can point to their offense as a place for improvement. Baldwin, Acuna and Matt Olson have not done much in the series, with Harris providing most of the production. If Atlanta can extend the series, it will need those bats to wake up.