LOS ANGELES — It took a while for the Dodgers offense to get going, but they eventually did feast on the underbelly of the Atlanta Braves relief corps, backing a strong start by Tarik Skubal in a 5-3 win in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on a toasty Saturday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
Injuries and ineffectiveness wreaked havoc on the Braves rotation down the stretch, and they needed the full three games to beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild card game. So Saturday was always
going to be a scramble for Atlanta.
“The advantage for us is we have an opportunity to not let their pitching staff come up for air, and how do you do that? You have to exhaust the starter,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Friday. “You have to get in their pen, and you have to have them deploy arms as soon as possible and get that carousel going and continue to beat starters. Then you can suffocate them.”
But the Braves got three scoreless innings and four strikeouts out of left-hander Dylan Dodd to open Game 1 against the Dodgers in what had to be a best-case scenario, similar to the 10-out shot in the arm provided by Ray Kerr on Thursday night to beat Philadelphia.
The suffocating began once Dodd left.
Freddie Freeman walked with one out in the fourth off right-hander Victor Mederos, then Teoscar Hernández smashed a two-run home run into the left field pavilion to open the scoring.
The home run by Hernández traveled 431 feet, long enough to satisfy a requirement for fans to sign up to receive a free soft drink out of the deal, as Dodger Stadium public address announcer Todd Leitz announced to the crowd during the pitching change shortly after Hernández’s (baja) blast.
Production from corner outfielders was a problem for the Dodgers for most of the season. But beginning with an August 30 home run in Detroit, Hernández ended his season on a hot streak, with 10 extra-base hits while hitting .352/.433/.582 with a 179 wRC+ over his last 25 games of the regular season.
Hernández also singled in the sixth inning off AJ Smith-Shawver, bringing up Kyle Tucker, who similarly came alive in September, hitting .262/.354/.536 with a 140 wRC+ and six home runs. Tucker also hit a two-run home run, just his sixth at Dodger Stadium all year compared to 12 long balls hit on the road.
Max Muncy added a solo shot, also in the sixth inning off Smith-Shawver, to widen the Dodgers lead. Muncy’s 17 postseason home runs are the most in Dodgers history, as are his 143 home runs at Dodger Stadium in the regular season and postseason combined.
Skubal’s first postseason start with the Dodgers — and the first time in seven career postseason starts that he pitched at home — was a good one, with seven strikeouts in his six innings.
“The biggest thing with him is just his presence of commanding the ball,” Game 2 starter Blake Snell said of Skubal on Saturday. “If he’s throwing it and he’s confident, it’s going to be a tough day for any offense.”
Atlanta got just two hits off Skubal, a single by leadoff batter Drake Baldwin in the first inning, then a solo home run by Sean Murphy to open the sixth. In between, Skubal retired 15 in a row. The sixth was the only truly taxing inning for Skubal, who had only one three-ball count in the first five innings but had three in the sixth inning, including walks of Ha-Seong Kim and Ozzie Albies.
Both were stranded, but the 28-pitch inning ended Skubal’s outing on a 100-degree day in Los Angeles, the second-hottest postseason game in Dodger Stadium history.
Skubal has lasted at least six innings in all seven of his career postseason starts, with a minuscule 1.97 ERA with 63 strikeouts (a 37-percent strikeout rate) against only seven unintentional walks in 45 2/3 innings. Pretty much exactly what the Dodgers hoped for when they traded for him in August.
Brock Stewart in the seventh and Alex Vesia in the eighth each pitched perfect innings. Tanner Scott ran into some trouble in the ninth, allowing a leadoff single to Ronald Acuña Jr. before Ozzie Albies hit a two-run shot to cut the Dodgers lead in half. Scott retired his next two batters before giving way to Evan Phillips.
Phillips, who has 46 career saves with the Dodgers and has never allowed a run in his now 13 postseason appearances, walked Mauricio Dubón before inducing an Austin Riley groundout to record his first postseason save.
Notes
- The Dodgers improved to 25-8 (.758) when hitting at least three home runs in a postseason game, including wins in their last six such games dating back to the 2024 World Series.
- Since 2013, the Game 1 winner in the Division Series has won 42 of 52 series (.808).
NLDS Game 1 particulars
Home runs: Teoscar Hernández (1), Kyle Tucker (1); Sean Murphy (1), Ozzie Albies (2)
WP — Tarik Skubal (1-0): 6 IP, 2 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts
LP — Victor Mederos (0-1): 1/3 IP, 2 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk
Sv — Evan Phillips (1): 1/3 IP, 1 walk
Up next
The Dodgers tapped another left-hander in Blake Snell to start Game 2 on Sunday evening (5:03 p.m., FS1). The Braves might go with ace left-hander Chris Sale, but after heavy usage this week might not decide that until Sunday morning to see how Sale feels, manager Walt Weiss said Saturday.
