Braves fighting to stay alive, weaken Dodgers’ power in Game 4

Field Level Media

ATLANTA — Whether it’s their intention or not, the Los Angeles Dodgers are building their whole postseason offense out of home runs.

Through three games of their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers have scored all 10 of their runs on seven home runs while going 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranding 22 runners.

And yet, Los Angeles has a 2-1 lead in the series and can advance to its third straight NL Championship Series with a win Wednesday night.

“It’s very hard to string three, four hits along in the playoffs. The pitching is great. Every team is really, really good. Pitching staffs are great,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said after Tuesday’s Game 3 win. “So if you can get a guy on and hit the home run, then so be it. Because who cares how you win the game as long as you win the game.

“I think we’ll get a hit at some point with runners in scoring position. Hopefully, it’s (Wednesday).”

Freeman, who had no extra-base hits in his final 18 regular-season games and hit .184 in September, has two homers among four hits through his first three games this postseason.

Although Los Angeles relied on two homers in Tuesday’s 3-1 win, it was a much more effective performance than the last time it faced Braves ace Chris Sale. After he threw a complete-game shutout against them on Aug. 27, the Dodgers chased him after five innings, tagging him for seven hits — the most he’s allowed in a postseason game since 2017.

“We spoiled a lot of pitches, took a lot of really good pitches that we normally don’t do. And you know anytime you can get Chris Sale out of a game after five innings, you’re doing something,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think, collectively, it was probably one of our better performances, certainly (against) the starter, as far as (the whole lineup).”

The Braves, who will face elimination for the second time this postseason on Wednesday, have managed just seven runs through the first three games of the NLDS after scoring 14 runs in three games in the wild-card round.

A big part of that is that Drake Baldwin, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson, who are regularly the top three hitters in Atlanta’s lineup, haven’t provided much production this postseason. They’re a combined 10-for-67 (.149) with a homer, a double, 19 strikeouts and nine walks through six playoff games.

“Those guys have been our aircraft carriers all year. Every time one of those guys steps in the box, I think something good is going to happen,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said of the trio. “We faced some pretty good pitching; that had something to do with (their struggles). But those guys, they’re always one at-bat away from changing a game.”

Acuna, originally announced as the right fielder in Tuesday’s lineup, was moved to designated hitter before the game began. Weiss attributed it to knee soreness stemming from a slide on Sunday, and wasn’t sure if he would be able to return to the field in Game 4.

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow (5-2, 3.53 ERA in regular season) will make his first start of the postseason with a chance to send the Dodgers to the next round. He’s 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA since returning in late August from a three-plus-month stint on the injured list due to low back spasms.

Glasnow is 2-6 with a 4.43 ERA in 16 career postseason appearances (13 starts). However, he had a 1.69 ERA in six appearances (three starts) spanning 21 1/3 innings in last year’s postseason. He’s 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA in six career starts against the Braves.

The Braves will counter with right-hander Tyler Mahle with their season on the line. After he excelled as a trade-deadline acquisition for Atlanta, with a 1.99 ERA over nine regular-season starts, Mahle allowed just one run over seven innings in his first career postseason last Wednesday in Game 2 of the wild-card series against Philadelphia.

He’s 3-3 with a 3.15 ERA in eight career starts against the Dodgers.

“Just making pitches. That’s all you can do out there is make pitches,” Mahle said of facing a lineup as talented as the Dodgers’. “I’m not trying to trick them. They know, they’ve seen me. I’m sure they’re going to watch film, whatever. So it’s making pitches at the right times, and that’s all you can hope to do.”