Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Well, the good news is Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chris Sale gave people the pitchers’ duel they wanted. The bad news is one pitch was all the Braves lineup needed to hit the game-deciding homer, as Sale outdueled Yamamoto. There just wasn’t much of a game to be had, as the Dodgers got clowned on in a 1-0 loss.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto usually takes some time to dial it in a bit, and the Braves took one pitch to take advantage, as Drake Baldwin hit a hanging splitter out to right for a 1-0 Braves lead.
Leadoff Launch ?#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/m1zePLWIfT
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 27, 2026
He followed that by retiring seven in a row before allowing a single and a steal with one out in the 3rd, then retired the next 10 in a row after that.
Split dotted away to backfoot curve that sweeps across the zone is a brutal sequence. pic.twitter.com/vZA9UXCXCt
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 28, 2026
A two-out single in the 6th broke that streak up, but he got out of that frame unscathed. Yamamoto finally found trouble again in the 7th, as a one-out infield single was followed by a steal, and then he issued his first walk of the game to end his night.
Yoshi did his usual (regular season) thing: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 105 Pitches.
With this offense, Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost the game on the first pitch, but otherwise struck out eight over 6.1 innings of one-run ball. pic.twitter.com/q1gMCExSwv
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 28, 2026
Dave Roberts turned to Jack Dreyer to get Yama out of it, and all he did was get a double play on a comebacker to end the threat.
This was probably a double play anyway, but nice play by Dreyer. pic.twitter.com/1D26DHItLN
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 28, 2026
Closing the book on the Braves was Edgardo Henriquez in the 8th, who struck out the side.
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On the other side, well, Chris Sale just looked unbeatable. He actually didn’t have many clean innings, but he also never felt threatened at all.
He gave up a two-out single in the 1st, hit a batter with two outs in the 2nd, gave up a lead-off bloop double in the 4th that he didn’t allow to advance a base, gave up a single with two down in the 5th, a one-out single in the 7th that also didn’t advance, hit a batter with two outs in the 8th, and then worked around a lead-off single in the 9th (also didn’t move, btw).
There was just nothing happening, and he was doing stuff he hadn’t since 2018.
That’s all, folks.
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Only thing to smile about during the game was Freddie Freeman accidentally hitting Ha-Seong Kim with a throw on a foul ball.
Freddie tries to take revenge on Kim for yesterday. pic.twitter.com/1n2t52wrsp
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) August 27, 2026
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| NL Seeding | Record | GB |
| Brewers | 83-51 | – |
| Dodgers | 80-54 | 3.0 |
| Braves | 79-55 | 4.0 |
The Dodgers will now fly to Detroit for three games against the Tigers, starting at 12:40 PM HT/3:40 PM PT/6:40 PM ET. It’ll be Tarik Skubal returning to the place he started against Drew Anderson.
