The Braves had a long night of traffic on the bases, plenty of missed chances, and one finish they’ll remember for a while.
Atlanta beat the Dodgers on Ha-Seong Kim’s walk-off single after an eight-pitch battle in the ninth, sealing a series win and capping a game that kept swinging back and forth. Kim was in the right spot at the right time after the Braves had already used several lineup moves to get there, and as Brandon Gaudin said so beautifully, the unlikeliest of heroes.
The game started with AJ Smith-Shawver setting the tone in a hurry. He struck out Shohei Ohtani on four pitches, finishing the punchout with a 98.4 MPH putout pitch, then got Freddie Freeman to ground out before walking Mookie Betts.
He recovered to retire Max Muncy on a grounder. Roki Sasaki answered with strikeouts of Baldwin and Acuña before Matt Olson turned on a 1-2 pitch and sent it out for a 1-0 Braves lead, leaving him three homers shy of forty.
Atlanta kept nudging forward early, with Dubón singling and stealing second and Harris drawing a rare walk, but Ozzie Albies grounded out to end that inning. The Dodgers answered in the second when Smith-Shawver gave up a leadoff double, then walked Teoscar Hernández on five pitches before Hunter Feduccia tied it with a single. Smith-Shawver did settle in enough to get Ohtani to fly out, while the Braves put two more runners on via singles from Riley and Baldwin without cashing in.
The third inning flipped the score. Smith-Shawver allowed a leadoff double to Freeman, and after two outs Tommy Edman launched a two-run homer to put Los Angeles ahead 3-1. Atlanta went quietly in its half of the inning.
Smith-Shawver ran into more trouble in the fourth, walking Feduccia and giving up an Ohtani single to put runners on the corners. Ohtani then stole second, but Freeman flew out.
Atlanta finally broke through in the bottom half. Albies walked, stole second, and Yastrzemski singled to put runners on the corners.
Riley followed with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one, Sean Murphy doubled, and when Sasaki left with a blister, the Braves pounced on the pitching change. Drake Baldwin lined an opposite-field double off Teoscar Hernández’s glove to drive in two and give Atlanta the lead before Acuña struck out.
Olson ended the inning with a hard lineout, but the damage was done.
Smith-Shawver’s night ended after five innings, his longest outing of the season. He allowed three earned runs on five hits, with three walks and three strikeouts.
He also survived a fifth inning that included a strikeout of Edman on a failed ABS challenge. From there, the bullpen took over.
Dylan Dodd worked the sixth and gave up a Teoscar Hernández single, but no further damage. Atlanta added to the lead in its half when Riley struck out and Sean Murphy homered for his first of the season, pushing the Braves up by two. Baldwin and Olson later walked, though neither was brought home.
The seventh turned messy. Dylan Lee gave up a leadoff double to Ohtani, then singles to Freeman and Betts to bring the Dodgers within one.
He walked Muncy to load the bases, and Didier Fuentes came in and allowed the tying run to score on a walk. After that, though, he settled down and stranded the inning.
He got Kyle Tucker to line out and Thomas to ground into a double play.
The Braves had chances to answer in the bottom of the seventh, but Harris was robbed at the wall by a leaping Teoscar Hernández, and the inning ended without a run. Fuentes then faced another huge jam in the eighth after Teoscar Hernández singled, Feduccia sacrificed him over, Ohtani moved him to third, and Freeman was intentionally walked.
Mookie Betts was then pitched around, loading the bases again. Fuentes responded by striking out Muncy after a nine-pitch battle that included five fouls, escaping with no runs allowed.
Atlanta wasted another opportunity in the eighth. Sean Murphy singled, putting him a triple shy of the cycle, and Baldwin doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs.
But the Braves couldn’t convert. Acuña grounded out, Olson was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Dubón grounded into a double play to end it.
Victor Mederos handled the ninth for Los Angeles and struck out Edman on a full count, then got Kyle Tucker to pop out and Alek Thomas to strike out, sending the game to the bottom of the inning tied.
Tanner Scott took over for the Dodgers and got Harris to ground out before Albies struck out. Lane Thomas then doubled, Riley was intentionally walked, and after the earlier substitutions, Kim came off the bench to hit in the ninth spot. He worked the count, fought off pitches, and finally delivered the walk-off single that sent Atlanta home with the win.
The Braves finished with six runs on 14 hits and six walks, leaving 13 runners on base. Dylan Lee had the roughest night of the bullpen, but the rest of Atlanta’s relief corps held together when it mattered.
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