Welp, that wasn’t ideal!
The home field advantage that the Atlanta Braves snatched away from the Los Angeles Dodgers has slipped right out of Atlanta’s fingers thanks to a brilliant Yoshinobu Yamamoto and more power hitting from the Dodgers. They still haven’t scored with anything but homers and unfortunately Chris Sale was the latest victim of LA’s obsession with the long ball.
“They did a nice job of really grinding the at-bats and passing the baton,” conceded manager Walt Weiss when he was asked
about the Dodgers’ approach against Sale in the postgame press conference. “[Sale] had to work hard. He had to work hard to get the outs that he got. He looked like Chris Sale to me [but] they did a nice job.”
Weiss also stated that he felt like Sale’s stuff was still good but the command may not have been there in his eyes. Either way, there’s no way around it: The Dodgers were better on this particular night and they did a solid job of bouncing back from Sale’s dominant outing when this team came to visit back in August.
With that being said, I’d imagine that the thing that’s on every Braves fan’s mind right now is that this lineup has got to start hitting consistently — and soon. While Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the rest of LA’s pitching staff is as imposing as it gets and it’s a much easier said-than-done task on Atlanta’s hands, it’s still the Postseason and the Braves are here for a reason — they’ve got to find a way to make something happen against this pitching staff.
That goes doubly for the stars like Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson and Ronald Acuña Jr., who have stayed largely dormant during this series so far. It was another quiet night for Acuña in particular, who has been picking up hits and getting on base but not at the rate or level that you’d expect out of a superstar-caliber player. Acuña had another chance to make something happen in a big moment in Game 3 when the fifth inning rolled around and he had a chance with two men in scoring position and two outs.
It could’ve been a special moment had Acuña come through and either tied the game with a knock or even electrified the stadium with a dinger. Instead, Acuña grounded out again and the moment went by the wayside. That ended up being Atlanta’s best chance of the night and the face of the franchise came up short again.
While it’s not just Acuña who has been underwhelming at the plate so far during this Postseason, it’s on him as the star of this ballclub to step up in the situations where the stars need to shine. While Acuña might have been dealing with a sore knee, it’s not an excuse — Weiss stated in the pregame that he hasn’t seen Acuña suffer any ill effects from the lower leg contusion that he sustained in the final week of the regular season and also Acuña’s knee was still in good enough position for him to play tonight.
If he’s not pressing at the plate (which Weiss insisted both during the pregame press conference and the postgame presser as well) then something’s got to change. If I knew what needed to change, I’d be getting paid a lot of money working in baseball instead of writing about it so it’s on Acuña and the coaching staff to figure it out. With their backs in the wall, the Braves are going to need everybody to contribute and hopefully the face of the franchise can finally lift his game for the Postseason before it’s too late.
It’ll also be on Tyler Mahle to make something happen on the mound for the Braves in Game 4. In the pregame presser before Game 3, Mahle at least expressed confidence that he’ll be up for the challenge for his start with Atlanta’s backs facing the wall. “…All you can do out there is make pitches. I’m not trying to trick them. [The Dodgers] know. They’ve seen me,” said Mahle when he was asked about approaching the Dodgers lineup in Game 4. “I’m sure they’re going to watch film, whatever. So it’s making pitches at the right times and that’s all you can hope to do.”
With that being said, the Dodgers also appear to be ready for the challenge of getting it right against Mahle with a trip to the NLCS in sight. Freddie Freeman spoke with the media following Game 3 and he talked about how the Dodgers plan to deal with Mahle on Wednesday evening. “If you’re chasing splitters down below, you’re going to be in trouble,” explained Freeman when he was asked about dealing with Mahle. “Just like we did with Sale, you gotta get him in the zone, get him off the bottom and hopefully he makes mistakes and you’re on time for them.”
“I wish baseball was so much more of ‘This is what we’re gonna do’ but sometimes we strip it down and it’s not that complicated. If we can just get him up off the bottom of the zone, hopefully we can have some great success tomorrow. We’ve gotta treat every game like an elimination game.”
All the way back in April, Mahle threw seven shutout innings against the Dodgers as a member of the Giants. A repeat performance will be sorely needed for the Braves and a star-making performance from any of the stars in this lineup would also be greatly appreciated as well.
The moment is there for Atlanta, they’ve just got to rise up to it and make something happen. We’ll see how it goes as the Braves play with the season on the line on Wednesday night in Cobb County.
