Dodgers 9, Braves 2: Intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani sparks 7-run 9th inning explosion

Chad Moriyama 09/15/2024 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

My health is apparently tied to Dodger performance, as I am feeling much better now and the Dodgers absolutely exploded late in today’s game to get on the board in the series against the Braves with a 9-2 victory.

Walker Buehler looked promising and the Dodgers found a way to stay in it when everything looked like it was going bad, then jolted to life with a massive 9th that included back-to-back-to-back homers.

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In what has been a maddening up-and-down season for Buehler as he looks to reinvent himself as a pitcher a bit, the results have basically come down to whether he has command. Early on things were shaky and he didn’t get help from the defense.

After a promising 1st, he walked two and gave up a single in a scoreless 2nd thanks to a double play. However, the 3rd saw a one-out walk followed by a catcher’s interference, and two more walks forced a run in to start the scoring. A brutal “single” after Gavin Lux couldn’t shovel the ball to Tommy Edman scored another and made it 2-0 before Buehler was able to get out of the frame.

Despite that mess, Buehler then retired nine of the next 10 batters he faced to cruise through the final three innings, giving up just another Lux-induced infield single as he waited on a high chopper.

A bit maddening, but he arguably deserved six shutout tonight: 6 IP, 3 H, 2 R (1 ER), 5 BB, 5 K, 97 Pitches.

As this was going on, Charlie Morton was cruising, giving up just a walk and double through four innings. However, the Dodgers rallied in the 5th, starting with a Max Muncy single and Lux walk to put a pair on. A pair of outs put them in danger of stranding the chance, but Shohei Ohtani ripped a double to cut the deficit to 2-1.

No further damage occurred due to Mookie Betts flying out to leave two in scoring position.

After a fruitless 6th against Morton, he exited, and the Dodgers rallied against the Braves pen with two outs in the 7th. A Will Smith walk was followed with an Andy Pages single, which was cashed in by another Ohtani double to tie the game at 2-2.

Yet again though, two were left stranded when Betts flew out.

Out of the pen for the Dodgers was Blake Treinen in the 7th, who got a trio of groundouts to cruise though the inning. The 8th belonged to Michael Kopech, who struggled mightily last time out, and he started today with a walk and then a double. He then buckled down, getting a shallow fly out and back-to-back authoritative strikeouts.

After the offense couldn’t get much in the 8th, they absolutely exploded in the 9th.

With one out, Will seemed to hit the go-ahead homer, but it bounced off the top of the concrete and went for a triple.

After a comebacker to the pitcher, it looked like a here-we-go-again scenario. And it was but in a different way, as Brian Snitker intentionally walked Ohtani to get to Mookie, and he against made the opposing team play with a single and a 3-2 lead.

Freddie Freeman than singled to left, and it got past the fielder to score everybody and make it 5-2.

At that point, Teoscar Hernandez, Edman, and Muncy went back-to-back-to-back, pushing the lead to 9-2.

Now taking an easy 9th, Brusdar Graterol completed the frame in 1-2-3 fashion.

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NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers88-61
Padres85-65 (3.5 GB)
Diamondbacks83-66 (5 GB)

Looking for a split tomorrow to complete the four-game set will be Yoshinobu Yamamoto looking to build on his impressive return against Max Fried at 1:20 PM HT/4:20 PM PT/7:20 PM ET.

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