Atlanta starts off well, survives late Dodger offensive explosion to go up 2-0
A glorious night of pitching for Atlanta turned into near nightmare for the Braves in the second game of the NLCS.
Atlanta led 6-0 after five, and 7-3 after the Dodgers put three across in the bottom of the seventh to finally get something going against Atlanta itching.
Ozzie Albies’ solo homer in the top of the ninth made it 8-3.
Los Angeles rallied in the ninth against Josh Tomlin, Atlanta’s sixth pitcher with a single and double for a run, before Max Muncy yanked a 2-0 pitch out to right and pull the Dodgers to within 8-6 with two outs.
On came Mark Melancon for the second straight night. Albies booted a routine grounder to keep the Dodgers alive and bring up Cody Bellinger, the NL MVP last year and rookie of the year in 2017, who entered the box 0 for 8 in the series.
He yanked a triple down the right field line.
Up came A.J. Pollock, who was 1 for 4. Down went Pollock with a sharp grounder to third that Austin Riley handled with ease to end it.
Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer in the top of the fourth got the Braves going, and they added four in the fifth.
Four walks, including to Travis d’Arnaud with the bases loaded, and run-scoring hits from Cristian Pache (double) and Freeman (single) plus a sac fly from Ozzie Albies put Atlanta up 6-0.
Dansby Swanson’s ground-rule double brought in d’Arnaud in the seventh, and that’s when the Dodger bats finally woke up and they put three runs across to pull within 7-3.
Game 3 is Wednesday at 6 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.
L.A. starter Clayton Kershaw was scratched from the start early in the afternoon because of back spasms.
Atlanta starter Ian Anderson went four innings and gave up one hit, matching five strikeouts with five walks. Tyler Matzek was sharp, with one hit in two innings. The Dodgers broke through with two runs off Darren O’Day.
Anderson and Christy Mathewson are the only players in postseason history with four shutout innings in each of their first three postseason games. Mathewson did it in 1905’s World Series.
Freeman had only two homers in 74 postseason at-bats entering the series.
The last Braves to hit homers in consecutive NLCS games was Eddie Perez in 1999 against the Mets, on the same dates.