The Dodgers are one win from closing out the National League Division Series, and they’ll try to finish the job Wednesday at Truist Park with another lineup tweak in place.
Shohei Ohtani has been moved again, while Kiké Hernandez is back in the starting group for Game 4 against the Braves. Los Angeles enters the afternoon matchup fresh off a 3-1 win in Game 3 on Tuesday, a game powered by Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s pitching and solo homers from Hernandez and Freddie Freeman.
After that win, manager Dave Roberts made clear his club expects another tight one.
"We played tonight like an elimination game," Roberts said after Game 3. "I thought tonight from start to finish we did a good job of grinding. And it speaks to how important this game was.
"And we have [Braves right-hander Tyler] Mahle [Wednesday], who in the second half has been one of the better pitchers in all of baseball. We have our work cut out. It’s going to be another grindy game.”
The Dodgers will hand the ball to Tyler Glasnow, while Atlanta counters with right-hander Tyler Mahle.
Glasnow’s season was interrupted by a back injury that kept him out nearly four months, and he made only 13 starts overall. Since coming back at the end of August, he has made six starts, posting a 2-2 record with a 4.46 ERA and 49 strikeouts across 34.1 innings.
Mahle has been a different pitcher since arriving with the Braves before the trade deadline. He logged a 5.13 ERA over 18 starts and 94.2 innings with the Giants, then sharpened all the way down to a 1.99 ERA in nine starts and 54.1 innings with Atlanta.
He also already has a strong outing against Los Angeles on his résumé. In April, when he was still with the Giants, Mahle held the Dodgers scoreless over seven innings and struck out five.
Asked what matters most against this Dodgers lineup, Mahle kept it simple.
"Just making pitches," Mahle said when asked the most important thing for him to do on Wednesday against the Dodgers. "That's all you can do out there is make pitches.
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."
He knows the margin for error is tiny.
"It's a good lineup," he added. "If you make a bunch of mistakes, they're going to really hurt you. So you've got to stay in your lane and make pitches."
First pitch for Dodgers-Braves Game 4 is set for 3 p.m. PT/6 p.m.
ET on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
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