Dodgers Beat Braves 5-3, Take 1-0 Series Lead
Three solo-ish home runs and six strong innings from Tarik Skubal held off a nervy, late Atlanta rally at Dodger Stadium.
Ay, mijos, this is how you want to start a series. Dodgers 5, Braves 3, and the TV in the living room did not need to be turned up loud for anybody to hear what won it: the long ball. Three different Dodgers hit one out, and that was the whole ballgame, even when the Braves tried to make it ugly at the end.
Here's how it went. Fourth inning, Teoscar Hernández gets a hold of one and sends it 431 feet to left-center, Freddie Freeman scoring ahead of him, and it's 2-0 Dodgers. On the replay that one came off Victor Mederos, and mijo, it did not look close.
Atlanta answers in the sixth when Sean Murphy takes Skubal deep to center, 421 feet, and suddenly it's 2-1 and abuela puts her fork down. But the Dodgers were not done with that inning. Kyle Tucker rips a two-run shot to right, 408 feet, Hernández scoring ahead of him, and it's 4-1. Then Max Muncy, because why not, lifts one 354 feet to right for a solo shot, and the lead is 5-1. Two swings, two more homers, same half-inning, and the cousins stop arguing long enough to clap.
Tarik Skubal did the heavy lifting on the mound: six innings, two hits, one run, seven strikeouts. He and the bullpen combined for nine strikeouts on the day and scattered just four hits all afternoon — a 3.00 ERA for the day. That is the kind of pitching that makes a tía relax a little.
Then the ninth happened, because the Braves don't go quietly. Ozzie Albies got to Tanner Scott for a two-run homer, 432 feet, Ronald Acuña Jr. scoring ahead of him, and just like that it's 5-3 and everybody's leaning forward again. Qué barbaridad. But Evan Phillips came in, got Austin Riley to ground one to short, Mookie Betts fielded it clean, and that was the game.
Teoscar Hernández finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI to go with that homer. Kyle Tucker went 2-for-4 with two RBI and the other big homer. Max Muncy added his own solo shot. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman each got on base and did their job at the top of the lineup. As a team the Dodgers put up eight hits and three home runs; the Braves managed four hits and leaned on two homers of their own just to make it respectable.
Fifty thousand, one hundred ninety-four people were in the building for this one, and the Dodgers lead this series 1-0.
So mijos, don't get too comfortable. One game is one game, and this family has seen leads disappear before. But for tonight, we eat good. Next up: Sunday, October 4, 8:00 PM ET, same two teams. Rest up — we're doing this again.
