After a dramatic win last night, the Atlanta Braves were looking to secure a series win against the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers tonight behind AJ Smith-Shawver who took the mound for just the third time this season against the struggling Roki Sasaki.
With the Braves win last night it gave the Dodgers a losing record against teams above .500, showing that maybe those power rankings you see all over the internet may just be skewed a little bit.
Smith-Shawver started the game off with a statement by striking
out the reigning MVP, Shohei Ohtani on four pitches to include a 98.4 MPH putout pitch. He then followed that with forcing a groundout to former MVP Freddie Freeman, but then walked another former MVP, Mookie Betts. He settled down and got 2026 All-Star Max Muncy to ground out as well. Sasaki struck out Baldwin and got Acuña to ground out, but then Matt Olson launched a 1-2 pitch into orbit for a 1-0 lead to put him three HRs away from forty. This put him 130th all-time in MLB for career HRs and second all-time in the amount of HRs in a player’s first five seasons with the Braves franchise behind the great Eddie Mathews.
It looked like the Braves might get more offense when Dubón singled and stole second followed by a rare Harris walk, but Ozzie Albies grounded out to end the inning.
The second inning did not go quite as well for Smith-Shawver. He gave up a leadoff double and after a pop up and fly out he walked Teoscar Hernández on five pitches. Hunter Feduccia then tied the game with a single. Fortunately, he settled down and got Ohtani to fly out. The Braves continued to put pressure on in the second but could not cross the plate. Riley and Baldwin both singled, but it did not result in runs.
Smith-Shawver struggled again in the third. He gave up a leadoff double to Freddie Freeman, and retiring the next two hitters, Tommy Edman hit a two-run shot to put the Dodgers up by two runs. Smith-Shawver settled down, and got Tucker to ground out. The Braves could not return the favor in their half of the inning as they were retired in order.
The fourth was shaky as well for Smith-Shawver. He was able to retire the first two hitters to include a strikeout, but then walked Hunter Feduccia followed by an Ohtani single to put runners on the corners. Ohtani stole second, but Freeman flied out. The Braves struck back in the fourth inning. Albies walked and then stole second. Yastrzemski singled to put runners on the corners. Riley then hit a sacrifice fly to bring the Braves within one. Sean Murphy finally started to look like Sean Murphy again tonight starting with a double here. Sasaki then was removed from the game due to a blister. Drake Baldwin took advantage of the pitching change and bad defense to hit an opposite field double off of Teoscar Hernández’s glove to score two and give the Braves the lead before Acuña struck out.
Matt Olson then lined out hard to end the inning, but some serious damage was done.
In his longest start of the season thus far, Smith-Shawver pitched the fifth inning and retired the side to include striking out Edman, who hit a HR off of him, on a failed ABS challenge. Smith finish his night with 5.0 innings pitched that included three earned runs on five hits, three walks, and three strikeouts. Eric Lauer came in to pitch for the Dodgers and Dubón led off with a single. Harris then moved him over with a rare sac bunt. Albies hit a hard line out and then Lane Thomas then came in the game to replace Yaz. Unfortunately, the Thomas sub did not work with him grounding out.
Dylan Dodd came in to pitch the sixth. He retired his first two hitters but then gave up a single to Teoscar Hernández. He was able to get the next out easily with a fly ball. In the Braves’ half of the sixth Riley struck out, but then Sean Murphy hit his first HR of the season to give the Braves a two-run lead.
Baldwin and Olson both walked, but they could not be scored.
Dylan Lee came in to pitch the seventh, and he had a rare bad night. He gave up a leadoff double to Ohtani, followed by a singled from Freeman and then a single to Betts to bring the Dodgers within one run. He then walked Muncy to load the bases with zero outs. This led to Didier Fuentes coming in. He unfortunately walked in the tying run, but then looked great for the rest of the inning and came in super clutch. He got Kyle Tucker to line out and then got Thomas to ground into a double play to stop anymore damage.
Evan Phillips came in to pitch the seventh for the Dodgers. Michael Harris hit one deep but was caught by a leaping Teoscar Hernández at the wall. Albies singled, but was out at second on a force out when Lane Thomas hit a force out. Thomas stole second, but it did not result in a run when Riley struck out. The eighth got scary for Fuentes. Teoscar Hernández singled and was moved over on a sac bunt by Hunter Feduccia. Ohtani then moved the runner to third on a ground out. This led to the decision to intentionally walk future HOFer Freddie Freeman. Fuentes then clearly pitched around Mookie Betts which led to loading the bases yet again. This led to an epic showdown with Max Muncy where after nine pitches to include five fouls, Fuentes was able to strike him out to end the inning with no runs scored.
Brock Stewart then came in to pitch eighth inning. Sean Murphy hit a single, putting him a triple shy of the cycle, and then Drake Baldwin hit his second double of the night to put runners on second and third with no outs. Somehow, the Braves squandered this opportunity. After an Acuña groundout and a Matt Olson intentional walk to load the bases, Dubón grounded into a double play to end the inning.
Victor Mederos came in to pitch the ninth inning and was able to strike out Edman after getting to a full count. He then got the the most hyped free agent of this past off-season, Kyle Tucker, to pop out to third. Medoros likely gained even more hearts of the fans tonight with a clutch strikeout to Alek Thomas to bring the game into the bottom of the ninth tied.
Tanner Scott came in for the Dodgers to face Michael Harris. Harris grounded out, Albies struck out, but Lane Thomas was able to stretch out a double to bring up Austin Riley who was intentionally walked. Because of the swaps earlier it resulted in Ha-Seong Kim coming in to hit in the ninth spot currently held by Mederos. This led to one of the most hilariously awesome walk-off wins of the season with Kim battling an eight pitch at-bat that resulted in a walk-off single to secure a series win for the Braves. As Brandon Gaudin said so beautifully, the unlikeliest of heroes.
The Braves only scored six runs, but if they continue to hit like tonight, their offense may be back. They had fourteen hits, and six walks to equal twenty base runners. They did leave thirteen runners on base, but we won’t dwell on the negative. The Dylan Lee struggled, but the rest of the bullpen pitched with ice in their veins.
The Braves go for the sweep tomorrow.
