Chris Sale owned the night in Atlanta, and the Dodgers walked away with nothing to show for a strong pitching duel that turned on one swing. Atlanta’s 1-0 win came on Drake Baldwin’s leadoff homer in the bottom of the first, a first-pitch blast off Yoshinobu Yamamoto that ended up being the only run either side could muster.
The game had the feel of a classic from the start. Both clubs came out looking to attack early and avoid falling behind against two starters who were simply not giving much away.
That approach made sense on paper, but it also left little margin for error, and the Braves were the ones who cashed in first. Baldwin guessed right, got a heater in the zone, and turned it into the night’s lone score.
Sale took the rest from there. He delivered his first complete game shutout since 2019, and the Dodgers never really solved him. The fastball-slider combination was enough to keep hitters off balance all game, and the Braves ace worked with the kind of pace and precision that made every inning feel like a formality.
Mookie Betts was one of the few Dodgers who managed to do anything against him, twice punishing off-speed pitches that didn’t quite finish the job. But even those moments didn’t turn into real damage. Betts was stranded after a leadoff double in the fourth, and Los Angeles never found the hit that could flip the game.
One of the night’s biggest strikeouts came in the fifth, when Sale overpowered Shohei Ohtani with a 100 mph fastball above the zone with one on and two outs. It was Sale’s fastest pitch in nearly a decade, and it put a bow on a sequence that showed just how sharp he was when the pressure should have been highest.
The Dodgers kept scraping for a way in, but Sale kept slamming the door. Kiké Hernández nearly got one in the seventh, but his well-struck ball died at the track. In the eighth, Sale hit Tommy Edman with two outs and then faced Betts again with the go-ahead run at the plate, but after falling behind 3-0, he settled in and got a harmless groundout to second.
Freddie Freeman opened the ninth with a reach, giving Los Angeles a final flicker of hope, but Sale shut that down too. He retired the next three batters in order, striking out Alex Call for his 11th punchout to finish the shutout.
Yamamoto deserved better than the final score, too. After surrendering the early homer, he settled in and was excellent himself, working into the seventh before handing a mess to Jack Dreyer. The left-hander cleaned it up and kept Atlanta at one run, but the Dodgers offense never answered.
Friday brings another notable matchup, with Tarik Skubal set to lead the Dodgers against his former team for the first time at Comerica Park. Drew Anderson, who joined the Tigers’ rotation shortly after the trade deadline, will start for Detroit.
First pitch is set for 3:40 p.m. (PT).
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Dodgers May Have Found More Than An Outfield Stopgap In Alek Thomas
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Thomas has also looked comfortable in the minors for the Dodgers, which is just as notable for a team that values finding usable pieces without a long runway. He has credited the organizations developmental staff for helping improve his swing, and if that progress holds, this may turn out to be more than a temporary outfield stopgap. [Read more 🡒]