Dodgers Drop Second Straight to Braves in 6-5 Walk-Off Loss
The Los Angeles Dodgers have now lost back-to-back games to the Atlanta Braves, and once again, the difference came down to the final innings.
After rallying from a two-run deficit to tie Wednesday night’s game, the Dodgers suffered a 6-5 walk-off loss at Truist Park when Ha-Seong Kim delivered the game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth. The defeat gave Atlanta its second straight victory over Los Angeles and clinched the series with one game remaining.
The Dodgers fell to 80-53, while the Braves improved to 78-55 and are now only two games behind Los Angeles in the battle for the National League’s second first-round bye.
More importantly, the Braves have clinched the season series. That means Atlanta would own the head-to-head tiebreaker if the two clubs finish the regular season with identical records.
For a series that entered the week carrying obvious October implications, the Dodgers have already surrendered something that could matter later.
Braves Strike First Against Roki Sasaki
Atlanta grabbed the lead in the opening inning when Matt Olson hit his 37th home run of the season, sending a solo shot off Sasaki to right field.
The Dodgers answered almost immediately.
Tommy Edman reached in the second inning and later scored when Hunter Feduccia singled to center, tying the game at 1-1.
Los Angeles then moved ahead in the third.
Freddie Freeman doubled, and Edman followed with a two-run homer to right field off Braves starter AJ Smith-Shawver.
The blast, Edman’s fifth of the season, gave the Dodgers a 3-1 advantage.
Edman would finish the night as Los Angeles’ most productive hitter, going 2-for-4 with three RBIs, two runs and a walk.
For a while, the Dodgers appeared to have control.
Then the fourth inning changed both the game and Sasaki’s night.
Sasaki’s Blister Changes the Game
Sasaki entered the fourth protecting a two-run lead, but Atlanta quickly created traffic.
He walked Ozzie Albies before Mike Yastrzemski singled. Austin Riley followed with a sacrifice fly, trimming the Dodgers’ advantage to 3-2.
Sean Murphy then doubled, putting two more runners in scoring position.
That was when pitching coach Mark Prior and the Dodgers’ training staff came to the mound to examine Sasaki’s right hand.
The issue was a blister on his right middle finger.
Sasaki was removed after 3⅓ innings, having allowed six hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out three.
The Dodgers later confirmed that Sasaki will be placed on the injured list, but his injury deserves its own focus beyond the scope of the game recap.
What mattered immediately Wednesday was that Edgardo Henriquez entered with two runners already aboard.
Both eventually scored.
Drake Baldwin doubled to left, bringing home Murphy and Yastrzemski and turning a 3-2 Dodgers lead into a 4-3 Atlanta advantage.
Sasaki was charged with both inherited runs.
It was the inning that swung momentum back toward the Braves.
Sean Murphy Adds to Atlanta’s Lead
Henriquez finished the fourth before Eric Lauer took over in the fifth.
Lauer provided two innings, but Atlanta added another run against him in the sixth.
Murphy launched a solo home run to left-center field, his first homer of the season, extending the Braves’ lead to 5-3.
Murphy had a particularly productive night against Los Angeles.
He finished 3-for-4 with a double, home run, RBI and two runs scored. Baldwin also collected three hits and drove in two.
The Dodgers had already overcome an early deficit in Tuesday’s series opener.
Wednesday required another comeback.
This time, they managed to complete it — temporarily.
Dodgers Rally to Tie the Game in the Seventh
Atlanta turned to left-hander Dylan Lee to begin the seventh, and the Dodgers immediately put him under pressure.
Shohei Ohtani doubled.
Freeman followed with another hit.
Mookie Betts then lined an RBI single into left-center field, bringing Ohtani home and cutting the deficit to 5-4.
Lee did not retire any of the four Dodgers he faced.
Braves manager Walt Weiss went to Didier Fuentes, but Los Angeles continued applying pressure.
After Max Muncy walked to load the bases, Edman drew another walk, forcing home Freeman and tying the game at 5-5.
At that point, the Dodgers had a chance to do much more.
The bases were loaded.
Nobody was out.
And the score was tied.
Instead, Atlanta escaped.
Kyle Tucker lined out, and Alek Thomas grounded into a double play to end the inning.
It was one of several missed opportunities that eventually proved costly.
The Dodgers finished the night 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 runners.
Los Angeles had done enough to get even.
It never managed to get ahead again.
Dodgers Bullpen Escapes Trouble in the Eighth
Evan Phillips worked a scoreless seventh before Brock Stewart took over in the eighth.
Atlanta threatened immediately.
The Braves loaded the bases, putting the potential go-ahead run in scoring position with only one out.
But Stewart escaped the inning by getting Mauricio Dubón to ground into a double play.
That kept the game tied at 5-5 and gave the Dodgers another opportunity to take the lead.
They could not capitalize.
Fuentes completed his work before Victor Mederos pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two Dodgers and sending the game to the bottom half still even.
That brought Tanner Scott back into the spotlight.
Tanner Scott Suffers Second Straight Loss
Scott had taken the loss Tuesday after surrendering Ozzie Albies’ go-ahead single in the eighth inning.
Roberts went back to him Wednesday with another tied game on the line.
This time, Atlanta ended it.
With one out, Lane Thomas doubled to right field.
After Scott recorded the second out, the Dodgers intentionally walked Austin Riley, setting up a matchup with pinch-hitter Ha-Seong Kim.
Kim made Los Angeles pay for the decision.
He lined a 97.2 mph fastball into left field at 103 mph off the bat, bringing Thomas home with the winning run.
Braves players poured out of the dugout as Kim reached first.
Game over.
Scott was charged with one run on two hits and one walk in two-thirds of an inning and fell to 1-5 on the season.
He has now been the losing pitcher in each of the first two games of this series.
That does not mean the defeats belong solely to Scott.
Los Angeles left numerous scoring opportunities unused Wednesday, and the pitching staff surrendered 14 hits and six walks.
But for a second straight night, the decisive Atlanta hit came against the same Dodgers reliever.
Edman Leads Dodgers Offense
While the loss overshadows the individual performances, Edman had one of his strongest offensive games of the season.
His two-run homer gave Los Angeles its first lead.
His bases-loaded walk tied the game in the seventh.
He finished with three of the Dodgers’ five RBIs.
Ohtani also finished with two hits, including a double, while Freeman went 2-for-4 with a double, walk and two runs scored.
Teoscar Hernández collected two hits.
Betts had a hit, two walks and the seventh-inning RBI.
The Dodgers finished with 10 hits and seven walks, providing plenty of baserunners.
They simply did not convert enough of them.
Tucker went 0-for-5.
Thomas went 0-for-5 and hit into the inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the seventh.
Muncy was hitless in four at-bats despite drawing a walk.
When a game ends by one run, those missed opportunities become difficult to overlook.
Atlanta Clinches a Potentially Important Tiebreaker
Wednesday’s loss carries consequences beyond dropping another game in the standings.
The Braves have now won four of five meetings against Los Angeles this season, guaranteeing Atlanta the head-to-head season series regardless of Thursday’s result.
That could become extremely important.
Los Angeles entered Atlanta holding one of the National League’s top two records and therefore a first-round postseason bye.
After two Braves victories, Atlanta has moved within two games of the Dodgers.
If the clubs eventually finish tied, Atlanta’s season-series victory gives the Braves the first tiebreaker.
There is no Game 163 to settle equal records under MLB’s current system.
That makes the first two nights at Truist Park more damaging than a typical pair of August losses.
Atlanta has gained two games in the standings and secured an advantage that cannot be taken back later.
Dodgers Now Face a Sweep Attempt
The Dodgers arrived in Atlanta riding a six-game winning streak.
Two nights later, they have lost both games of the series by a combined two runs.
Tuesday ended 4-3.
Wednesday ended 6-5.
The frustration is not simply that Los Angeles has lost.
It is how close the Dodgers have been to changing both results.
They stranded Ohtani at third with nobody out in the ninth inning Tuesday.
They loaded the bases with nobody out in a tied seventh inning Wednesday and scored only once.
Those are the types of missed chances that become magnified against another contender.
The Dodgers now turn to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who is scheduled to face Braves left-hander Chris Sale in Thursday’s finale as Los Angeles tries to avoid being swept.
That matchup carries even more urgency after what happened Wednesday.
Los Angeles still leads the NL West comfortably.
The season is not suddenly in danger because of two narrow losses.
But the Dodgers came to Atlanta with an opportunity to strengthen their grip on a postseason bye and potentially secure an important season-series tiebreaker.
Instead, the Braves have seized both advantages.
Wednesday’s game provided another example of how thin the margin is between two postseason contenders.
The Dodgers came back.
They survived Atlanta’s bases-loaded threat in the eighth.
They entered the ninth tied.
And one swing by a pinch-hitter ended it.
For the second night in a row, the Dodgers were close enough to win in Atlanta. For the second night in a row, the Braves made the final play that mattered.