A Walk in the Park: Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 10 Strikeouts Propel Dodgers Past Chris Sale and Braves 3-1 for a 2-1 NLDS Lead
By Jess Henderson ·
The last time Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched at Truist Park, on Aug. 27, he allowed one run in 6 1/3 innings and lost 1-0, because Chris Sale threw a shutout on the other side. In Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday night, Yamamoto allowed one run again, this time over seven innings with 10 strikeouts, and the Dodgers got to Sale for two home runs in the fourth inning. Los Angeles won 3-1 and leads the series 2-1, one win from the NL Championship Series.
For two innings Sale was close to untouchable. He got each of his first six outs on strikeouts, which MLB.com noted only Mike Hampton had done before him among Braves pitchers in a postseason game, in Game 2 of the 2003 NLDS. Mookie Betts beat out a slow roller toward first to start the game, and Teoscar Hernández reached on a fielding error by shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, but Sale struck out Freddie Freeman, Will Smith and Shohei Ohtani around them. Ohtani was batting fifth for the first time as a Dodger, per MLB.com, part of Dave Roberts spreading his left-handed hitters out against Sale. In the second, Kyle Tucker singled and stole second after two pickoff throws, and Miguel Rojas, Andy Pages and Kiké Hernández all struck out swinging. Sale had eight swinging strikes in those two innings.
Atlanta's defense made the best play of the night in the third. Betts led off the inning with a grounder that Kim deflected into left, and Freeman drove a 1-2 fastball toward the left-field wall at 101.3 mph off the bat. Mauricio Dubón tracked it back, timed his jump and caught it at the wall, just above the visitors' bullpen, where Dodgers relievers were already bracing for it to land, per MLB.com. The Dodgers loaded the bases anyway with two outs, on Smith's single to left and Ohtani reaching on catcher's interference when his swing clipped Drake Baldwin's mitt, per the Los Angeles Times, and Rojas lined Sale's first pitch to Lane Thomas in right. Sale was at 62 pitches through three scoreless innings.
I have always had a soft spot for players a manager can put almost anywhere, and Dubón spent Tuesday making the case for them. He started in left field, took extra bases and maybe two runs away from Freeman there, and moved to shortstop in the sixth after Kim came out for a pinch-hitter. On the other side, Kiké Hernández started at third base and finished the night in left.
Hernández was making his first start of this postseason, and in the fourth he gave the Dodgers the lead. Pages led off with a single, his first hit of the series, and Tucker lined out to second. Hernández took a changeup for ball one, got another one at 88.9 mph and hit it 406 feet into the left-field seats. It was his 17th career postseason home run. "Experience helps a lot," Hernández said postgame on FOX, per MLB.com. "This is what I grew up dreaming about, playing October baseball."
Two batters later, after Betts grounded out, Freeman swung through a 97.7 mph sinker and then hit the next one, at 95.7, 399 feet to right-center, where Dubón had no chance at it. It was the 18th postseason homer of his career, nine of them hit for Atlanta, and it tied him with seven others, including teammate Max Muncy, for 10th on the all-time list, according to MLB.com. Teoscar Hernández's 380-foot fly ball to Dubón ended the inning.
Sale finished with five innings, seven hits, three runs, no walks and seven strikeouts on 95 pitches. After the eight swinging strikes in the first two innings, he got two over his last three, and his four-seamers and sinkers averaged 96.4 mph in the fifth after 97.5 in the first. MLB.com's Mark Bowman wrote that Sale seemed to tire just before the home runs and raised the 21 pitches Sale threw in relief to close out the Wild Card Series last Thursday, two days after a 95-pitch start. Dylan Dodd, Dylan Lee, Brent Suter and Raisel Iglesias then held the Dodgers to one hit over the last four innings.
Yamamoto, pitching for the first time this postseason, retired 10 of the first 11 Braves. The only one to reach was Michael Harris II, on a bunt single in the second that Yamamoto fielded while slipping on the grass, throwing to first from the ground, per the Times. His trouble came in the fifth, when Dubón singled on a 2-2 splitter and Thomas, in right field because Ronald Acuña Jr.'s sore right knee moved Acuña to designated hitter about 90 minutes before first pitch, per MLB.com, lined the first pitch he saw into left. Austin Riley popped out, and pinch-hitter Rowdy Tellez walked on four pitches to load the bases. Baldwin grounded the first pitch to Freeman for an out, and Dubón scored. Acuña grounded a 3-1 splitter to Rojas, who slipped in shallow right field as he made the throw, per the Times. According to FOX's Ken Rosenthal, as cited by MLB.com, Rojas hurt his lower back on that play. Rojas stayed in until the eighth, when he left in the middle of an at-bat and Tommy Edman finished it.
Yamamoto did not allow another baserunner and retired his last eight hitters. He threw 98 pitches, 33 of them four-seam fastballs, and got 16 swinging strikes. The 10 strikeouts were a postseason career high. "I was feeling really good with my fastball, it was coming out of my hand really good," he said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda, per MLB.com. "Naturally, I ended up relying on it." Before the game Roberts had said, "I trust Yamamoto undoubtedly," per MLB.com, and he left him in for seven.
Tanner Scott walked Acuña with two outs in the eighth and struck out Matt Olson on a 97.7 mph fastball. Edwin Díaz, in his first save situation since Aug. 14, according to the Times, gave up a leadoff double to Ozzie Albies that went 388 feet to center. Harris fouled off five pitches before grounding to second, which moved Albies to third, and Dubón fouled out to Tucker in right. Pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski grounded Díaz's second pitch softly to Betts for the last out.
All 10 of the Dodgers' runs this postseason have come on home runs, which MLB.com says is the longest such streak to open a postseason in history. Atlanta has scored seven runs in the three games of this series and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday. Baldwin and Acuña, the top two hitters in the order, are a combined 6-for-44 this postseason, according to Bowman.
Up Next
Game 4 is Wednesday at 5 p.m. Central at Truist Park, with Tyler Mahle starting for Atlanta against Tyler Glasnow. The Braves need a win to force a Game 5, which would be Friday at 7 p.m. Central at Dodger Stadium.
In the 2-2-1 Division Series format, teams that led 2-1 going into a road Game 4 have won the series 26 of 37 times, and 20 of those clinched it in Game 4, according to MLB.com.