Braves Even NLDS With Dodgers, Setting Up Pivotal Games in Atlanta

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ bid for a third straight World Series title hit a snag Sunday when the Atlanta Braves beat them 3-2 to even their National League Division Series at one game apiece. The series now shifts to Truist Field in Atlanta for Games 3 and 4.

The Dodgers had taken Game 1 behind a shutout performance from Tarik Skubal, putting them in position to seize control of the series. Instead, a struggling offense let the advantage slip away. Los Angeles left seven runners on base and went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position against Atlanta’s bullpen, which worked its second straight bullpen game of the series. The only Dodgers runs came on a fourth-inning home run from Freddie Freeman and a solo shot from Max Muncy in the ninth.

Key chances went unconverted. In the third inning, Shohei Ohtani batted with two runners on base. In the fifth, Mookie Betts walked and Ohtani moved him to second with a single, but Will Smith, Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez could not bring either runner home.

Weiss’s Pitching Gamble

Braves manager Walt Weiss made a calculated decision that paid off: rather than starting Chris Sale in Game 2, he held the 37-year-old back two extra days so he could start Game 3 instead. Sale had pitched a four-out save against the Philadelphia Phillies in the Wild Card Series just three days earlier, and starting him on four days’ rest in Game 2 would have been his shortest turnaround since April.

The move meant Atlanta had to lean on a tired bullpen for a second consecutive bullpen game to beat Dodgers starter Blake Snell in Game 2 — a gamble that worked.

What’s Ahead

Sale, who threw a complete-game shutout against the Dodgers in August, starts Game 3 on Tuesday opposite Los Angeles right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Yamamoto was a key figure in the Dodgers’ World Series run a year ago, winning Game 6 against the Toronto Blue Jays and then pitching the final 2 ⅔ innings of Game 7 after the bullpen was exhausted.

In Game 4, the Braves plan to start Tyler Mahle, acquired from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline, who went 4-1 with a 1.99 ERA in nine starts for Atlanta. Should the series reach a decisive Game 5 back at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles would turn again to Skubal, who blanked the Braves over six innings in the series opener, while Atlanta would be forced into a third bullpen game of the series.

With the offense struggling to generate runs without the long ball — three home runs accounted for all five Dodgers runs in their Game 1 win — Los Angeles now faces a series it must win on the road in Atlanta to keep its three-peat hopes alive.