Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Enrique Hernandez and Freddie Freeman smacked home runs Tuesday to power the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers over Atlanta 3-1 and to the brink of advancing in the Major League Baseball playoffs. A two-run blast by Hernandez and a solo shot by former Braves star Freeman in the fourth inning combined with a stellar pitching effort from Japan’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto to seal Atlanta’s fate.
Yamamoto, a 28-year-old right-hander, struck out 10, matching his MLB career high, while surrendering only one run on four hits over seven innings. “I was feeling really good. I was able to control my pitches,” said Yamamoto through a translator. “That’s why I got the swings and misses. My fastball was coming out of my hand pretty good so naturally I ended up relying on it.”
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The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five National League divisional series, which continues in Atlanta on Wednesday. The reigning World Series champion Dodgers are trying to win a third consecutive title, something no NL club has ever done. In a later game, the Milwaukee Brewers seek a road victory at San Diego to complete a sweep of the Padres and reach the best-of-seven NL Championship Series (NLCS) for the second consecutive year. The Dodgers swept Milwaukee in last year’s NLCS.
Yamamoto, last year’s World Series Most Valuable Player, improved to 8-1 in his MLB playoff career. Atlanta ace Chris Sale started against Yamamoto. It was only the third game in MLB playoff history, the first since 1938, with rival starters who both had closed out a World Series-clinching contest. Sale, a 37-year-old left-hander who threw his first shutout since 2019 in August against the Dodgers, struck out seven while allowing three runs on seven hits over five innings.
After Andy Pages singled to open the fourth, Hernandez smashed a two-run homer over the left-field wall to open the scoring. Freeman, robbed of a homer by Mauricio Dubon’s leaping catch in the third inning, followed moments later with a solo homer for a 3-0 Los Angeles lead. That gave the Dodgers their first 10 runs of the playoffs all from homers, the longest such streak to start a post-season in MLB history.
Dubon and Lane Thomas opened the Atlanta fifth with back-to-back singles and Yamamoto walked Rowdy Tellez to load the bases. Drake Baldwin grounded out to first to drive in Dubon from third base, but Ronald Acuna grounded out to end the threat. The Braves threatened in the ninth inning after Ozzie Albies doubled off reliever Edwin Diaz and took third on a Michael Harris ground out. Dubon then hit a fly out and Mike Yastrzemski grounded out to end the game.
Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, a four-time MVP who has battled right biceps and left knee injuries, was dropped to fifth in the batting order, his lowest spot in six years. The Japanese star went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout.
© 2024 AFP
