Braves 4, Dodgers 2: Wasting huge chances and getting beat by big homers, sounds familiar

Chad Moriyama 09/02/2023 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

Following a couple of rough starts to games in this series, the Dodgers and Braves played a close one all the way through, and things actually made it into extras thanks to the Dodgers not being able to hit with RISP and the Dodgers pen game being effective. Unfortunately, a homer sunk them late and led to a 4-2 loss in 10.

That’s three losses in a row now, obviously all to the Braves.

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Emmet Sheehan is back for the Dodgers and while he struggled with command a bit, he looked like he polished some stuff up during his time away as well. After having to work around a single and a walk in the 1st, he faced the minimum in the 2nd thanks to a walk being erased by a double play.

Unfortunately, he did give up a hilarious Ronald Acuna Jr. homer in the 3rd to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. Good grief.

Still, he didn’t give up anything else, getting through the 3rd after that and getting a scoreless 4th as well. But the noteworthy thing was the 17 whiffs on the night, as he looked dominant at times.

4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 76 Pitches

On the other end was Bryce Elder, master of smoke and mirrors for 2023, and he was at it again tonight. After giving up just a single in the 1st, the 2nd started with a double, but the Dodgers weren’t even able to move the runner.

The 3rd looked like a prime chance to blow the game open, as an Austin Barnes double was followed by back-to-back walks from Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to load the bases with nobody out. However, Will Smith promptly grounded into a double play to tie the game at 1-1 but also basically kill the rally.

The rally in the 4th wasn’t as obvious since a David Peralta single was followed by a couple of outs, but a Miguel Rojas single and a Barnes walk loaded the things up for Mookie … who struck out on this pitch.

Elder then rebounded by just allowing a walk in the 5th and got a clean 6th to end his usual frustratingly effective outing.

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For the Dodgers pen, things started with Shelby Miller in the 5th, who got two strikeouts and a clean frame. Ryan Brasier and Brusdar Graterol both got 1-2-3 frames on 12 pitches in the 6th and 7th innings, respectively.

The 8th saw closer Evan Phillips enter and continue the outs streak by getting three of them on 13 pitches. He then continued in the 9th with two outs before being removed. It was Alex Vesia in his place to face Matt Olson, and he got a fly out to end that threat.

On the other side, the Braves pen was arguably more effective than Elder. After notching a clean 7th, the 8th started with two outs before a walk, stolen base, issuing an intentional walk, and then getting out of that mini-jam. The 9th went 1-2-3 much like the 7th did, and their pen did their job.

Bonus baseball!

Vesia continued on in the 10th, starting with a pop-out and fly out without allowing the Manfred Runner to move. However, he then issued a four-pitch walk to put a pair on, and Orlando Arcia homered to make it 4-1. Just like that.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers got a run in the 9th on a sac fly but that was it. Yikes.

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Orel Hershiser going in.

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NLRECORD
Braves90-45
Dodgers83-52 (7 GB)
NL WESTRECORD
Dodgers83-52
Giants70-66 (13.5 GB)

*Either still playing or will play later.

The series concludes tomorrow a bit earlier at 10:10 AM HT/1:10 PM PT/4:10 PM ET, and it’ll be rookie Bobby Miller against veteran Charlie Morton.

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