The Dodgers saw another Atlanta Braves comeback against Tanner Scott on Wednesday, this time walking them off in the bottom of the ninth in a 6-5 final score.
Roki Sasaki was one strike away from completing a perfect bottom of the first inning, but Matt Olson attacked a low slider and struck the foul pole to put the Braves on top for a second consecutive game. Sasaki promptly allowed two consecutive two-out baserunners, but he was able to escape further damage by getting a weak groundout from Ozzie
Albies.
The Dodgers had their second leadoff extra-base hit over their last three innings, as Tommy Edman led of the top of the second with a double to right center field. A.J. Smith-Shawver managed to get two consecutive outs, but after a walk to Teoscar Hernández, Hunter Feduccia kept his solid month of August going with an opposite field single to left field, plating Edman and tying the game.
Freddie Freeman made it three leadoff extra-base over the Dodgers’ last four innings with a double to begin the top of the third. Smith-Shawver once again retired the next two hitters after being down in the count 2-0, but Edman decided to take the 2-1 pitch for a called strike 1. That decision paid off, as Edman turned on the very next pitch to right field, scraping the outfield wall and giving the Dodgers their first lead of the series. It was Edman’s second home run from the left side of the plate and his fourth away from home.
Sasaki was able to keep Atlanta scoreless over the second and third innings, but they found their stride offensively in the bottom of the fourth inning. Ozzie Albies worked a leadoff walk and stole second base before Mike Yastrzemski moved him over to third with a single up the middle. Austin Riley drove home Albies on a sacrifice fly to reduce the lead to one before Sean Murphy cracked a double to put runners on second and third— just his second extra-base hit of the season. That double was the final pitch for Sasaki on the night, as he would leave the game early due to a blister to his right middle finger.
Wednesday was the shortest outing of the second half for Sasaki, as he could only complete 3 1/3 innings while tossing just 66 pitches.
Edgardo Henriquez came in relief of Sasaki to try and get the Dodgers out of the jam, but an awful route from Teoscar Hernández on a fly ball to left field from Drake Baldwin allowed both runners to score, helping Atlanta regain their first lead since the first inning. Eric Lauer came on for the fifth inning, making his second relief appearance as a Dodger, and the left-hander managed to complete two full innings. In doing so, he allowed the first home run of Sean Murphy’s season to pad the Atlanta lead to two.
The Dodgers were left struggling to find any answers against Smith-Shawver and Dylan Dodd after the third inning, but they managed to kickstart a seventh-inning rally against southpaw Dylan Lee. Shohei Ohtani led off the inning with a double before a single from Freeman moved him over to third. Mookie Betts drove home Ohtani with a single up the middle, and a walk to Max Muncy loaded the bases with nobody out, chasing Lee out of the game.
Didier Fuentes was called on to preserve the lead, but a walk to Tommy Edman took Sasaki off the hook for the loss and evened the score a 5. Kyle Tucker’s lineout to left field was too shallow to bring home Betts, and Fuentes needed one pitch to ignite a 4-6-3 double play from Alek Thomas.
The Dodgers once again loaded the bases against Fuentes in the top of the eighth inning, but the Dodgers couldn’t capitalize as Max Muncy went down swinging to end the threat. Atlanta responded by immediately putting two runners in scoring position with nobody out against Brock Stewart in the bottom of the eighth inning. Stewart managed to hold both runners on a weak ground ball to Freeman off of Ronald Acuña Jr., and after an intentional walk to Olson, a nifty 6-4-3 double play kept Atlanta quiet and got Stewart out of the bases-loaded jam.
The Dodgers went down in order against right-hander Victor Mederos in the top of the ninth inning, while Tanner Scott was one out away from doing the same in the bottom half when Lane Thomas sent a double down the right side to put the winning run in scoring position. The Dodgers decided to put Austin Riley on base intentionally to put the force at any base, but a pinch-hit single to left from the struggling Ha-Seong Kim sunk the Dodgers, allowing Atlanta to walk them off and officially take the season series.
Freddie Freeman’s double against Smith-Shawver in the third inning was the 578th of his career, tying him with Hall of Fame third baseman Wade Boggs for 24th on the all-time doubles list.
With the Milwaukee Brewers defeating the New York Mets on Wednesday, the Dodgers now sit two games back for the best record in the National League. They still maintain a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves for the two seed.
Game particulars
- Home runs— Matt Olson (37), Sean Murphy (1): Tommy Edman (5)
- WP— Victor Mederos (3-1): 1 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts
- LP— Tanner Scott (1-5): 2/3 IP, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Up next
The Dodgers look to avoid being swept by Atlanta on Thursday (4:15 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA) before heading out to Detroit for a weekend series against the Tigers. Yoshinobu Yamamoto faces Chris Sale.
