LOS ANGELES (AP) — Behind the red-hot bat of Eddie Rosario, the Atlanta Braves are one win away from their first World Series appearance since 1999.
All they need to do is put away the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Easier said than done.
After all, the Braves were in exactly the same position last year and failed to finish the job.
Rosario homered twice in his second four-hit game of the NL Championship Series and six Atlanta pitchers combined on a four-hitter, giving the Braves a 9-2 victory Wednesday for a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven playoff.
Game 5 is Thursday in Los Angeles. Last year, the Dodgers also trailed 0-2 and 1-3 against Atlanta in the NLCS before roaring back to win three straight games at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas.
“As we saw last year, winning a game is hard, especially a veteran team like this that we’re playing,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “But I feel good about our club just from what we experienced last year and where these guys are.”
Adam Duvall and Freddie Freeman also homered for the Braves, who bounced right back from blowing a late lead in an agonizing loss Tuesday to end their 10-game skid at Dodger Stadium.
“I feel like everyone has really hunkered down and dug their heels in and everyone is really focused,” Rosario said through a translator. “That’s something that I’m really proud to be a part of.”
Rosario became the first player to have two four-hit games in a League Championship Series. He drove in four runs and scored three while continuing his torrid postseason hitting, finishing a double short of the cycle. He homered in the second inning, tripled in the third, singled in the fifth and clocked a three-run homer in the ninth.
“As soon as I hit that first home run I just thought to myself, ‘Wow, I feel amazing right now,’” Rosario said, “so I kind of just carried that confidence into my other at-bats going forward.”
Rosario hit for the cycle last month against San Francisco, achieving the feat on just five total pitches.
“I’ve been using that bat that I hit for the cycle with and it has not disappointed. I had that double remaining and I’m like, ‘Man, this bat has not let me down yet,'” he said. “As soon as I hit that second one out, I go, `Oh well, there goes the double.'”
The Dodgers will need to jump-start their offense to have a shot at another NLCS comeback. Their first five hitters — Mookie Betts, Corey Seager, NL batting champion Trea Turner, Will Smith and Gavin Lux — were a combined 0 for 17 in Game 4.
Los Angeles, which had won 18 of 19 at home going back to the regular season, has won six consecutive postseason elimination games dating to last year.
“I feel good about it,” manager Dave Roberts said. “We have a very resilient team, a very tough team, and it’s not going to get much tougher than facing Max Fried in an elimination game, but we’ve done it before.”
Rosario was acquired from Cleveland on July 30 as the Braves remade their depleted outfield before the trade deadline.
What a find he’s been.
The left fielder has hit safely in every game of this postseason, piling up 14 hits so far — including a walk-off single in Game 2 against the Dodgers. He has struck out only once.
Rosario is 10 for 17 (.588) with two homers and six RBIs in the NLCS.
“He’s been looking so good at the plate, hitting balls hard,” Freeman said.
Atlanta’s four homers tied a postseason franchise record.
Each of the series’ first three games was decided by one run in the last two innings. But when it got late this time, the wild-card Dodgers couldn’t generate any comeback magic.
Atlanta opener Jesse Chavez combined with Drew Smyly, Chris Martin, A.J. Minter, Tyler Matzek and Will Smith to hold down the Dodgers’ offense. Los Angeles didn’t get a hit until the fifth and was limited to one the rest of the way. Smyly went 3 1/3 innings for the win.
The Braves wasted no time jumping all over 20-game winner Julio Urías, who gave up three homers in 2 2/3 innings. It was the second time he allowed that many in his career; the first time was in his second major league game in 2016.
Rosario drove an 0-2 pitch into the left-field pavilion leading off the second and Duvall followed with a shot to center, the first time the Braves homered back-to-back in the postseason since Oct. 3, 2002, against San Francisco in Game 2 of a Division Series.
Freeman went deep leading off the third. Two outs later, Rosario tripled to deep right on a two-strike pitch, sliding headfirst into the bag.
“He kind of smiled at me after he hit it in there just because it was one of those things where it just, a hot hitter and he kind of knows where he’s going,” Urías said through a translator.
Duvall was intentionally walked and Joc Pederson singled, scoring Rosario for a 4-0 lead against Urías.
The Dodgers, who won 106 games during the regular season, closed to 5-2 in the fifth on pinch-hitter AJ Pollock’s two-out, two-run single. Justin Turner singled for their first hit of the game and Cody Bellinger followed with a single and stolen base.
Freeman’s RBI double in the ninth made it 6-2 before Rosario went deep.
Urías didn’t record a strikeout until the fourth, when Dansby Swanson and Freeman went down swinging back-to-back to end the left-hander’s first clean inning. Urías gave up five runs and eight hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked three.
CONNECT FOUR
The only other player with a pair of four-hit games in a postseason series was Milwaukee Brewers Hall of Famer Robin Yount in the 1982 World Series against St. Louis.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Braves: RHP Huascar Ynoa was scratched from his scheduled start with shoulder inflammation. He was replaced on the roster by left-hander Dylan Lee. Ynoa is not eligible to return for the World Series, if the Braves advance.
Dodgers: Justin Turner is done for the season after injuring his hamstring in the seventh, Roberts said. Turner screamed as he was retired on a double-play ball. He limped off the field and was replaced in the eighth.
UP NEXT
Fried starts Game 5 for the Braves in his Los Angeles hometown. The Dodgers planned a bullpen game, a strategy they’ve used twice this postseason, going 1-1 in those games.
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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — No. 1 Texas will start Arch Manning at quarterback Saturday against Louisiana-Monroe while regular starter Quinn Ewers continues to recover from a strained muscle in his abdomen, coach Steve Sarkisian said Thursday.
It will be the first career start for Manning, a second year freshman. He relieved Ewers in the second quarter last week against UTSA, and passed for four touchdowns and ran for another in a 56-7 Texas victory.
Manning is the son of Cooper Manning, the grandson of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning, and the nephew of Super Bowl-winning QBs Peyton and Eli Manning.
Ewers missed several games over the previous two seasons with shoulder and sternum injuries.
The Longhorns are No. 1 for the first time since 2008 and Saturday’s matchup with the Warhawks is Texas’ last game before the program starts its first SEC schedule against Mississippi State on Sept. 28.
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Making 104 senior appearances for Canada over a 20-year span, Atiba Hutchinson embodied quiet professionalism and leadership.
“He’s very humble but his influence is as strong as I’ve ever seen on men,” said former national team coach John Herdman.
“For me it was just a privilege, because I’ve had the honour to work with people like (former Canada women’s captain Christine) Sinclair. And Atiba, he’s just been a gift to Canada,” he added.
Hutchinson documents his journey on and off the field in an entertaining, refreshingly honest memoir called “The Beautiful Dream,” written with Dan Robson.
The former Canada captain, who played for 10 national team coaches, shares the pain of veteran players watching their World Cup dream slip away over the years.
Hutchinson experienced Canada’s lows himself, playing for a team ranked No. 122 in the world and 16th in CONCACAF (sandwiched between St. Kitts and Nevis and Aruba) back in October 2014.
Then there was the high of leading his country out at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after a 36-year absence by the Canadian men.
And while he doesn’t throw anyone under the bus — for example, he notes the missed penalty kick in Canada’s World Cup opener in Qatar against Belgium without mentioning the taker (Alphonso Davies, whom he is very complimentary to) — he shares stories that paint a picture.
He describes the years of frustration the Canadian men experienced, with European club teammates ridiculing his commitment to the national team. In one telling story about a key World Cup qualifier in Honduras in October 2012, he relates learning in the dressing room before the match that the opposition players had been promised “land or homes” by their federation if they won.
“Meanwhile an executive from the Canadian Soccer Association entered and told us that we’d each receive an iPad or an iPod if we won,” Hutchinson writes.
Needing just a draw to advance to the final round of CONCACAF qualifying, Canada was trounced 8-1. Another World Cup campaign ended prematurely.
Hutchinson writes about the turnaround in the program under Herdman, from marvelling “at how good our younger players were” as he joined the team for World Cup qualifying ahead of Qatar to Canada Soccer flying the team to a game in Costa Rica “in a private jet that was swankier than anything I’d ever seen the federation pay for.”
Canada still lost 1-0, “a reminder we weren’t there yet,” he notes.
And Hutchinson recalls being “teary-eyed” during Canada’s memorable World Cup 2-1 qualifying win over Mexico in frigid Edmonton in November 2021.
“For the first time we had the respect of the other countries … We knew we had been viewed as an easy win by opponents like Mexico. Not anymore,” he writes.
The Canadian men, currently ranked 38th in the world, have continued their rise under coach Jesse Marsch
“I’m extremely proud to see how far we’ve come along,” Hutchinson said in an interview.
“Just to see what’s happening now with the team and the players that have come through and the clubs they’re playing at — winning leagues in different parts of Europe and the world,” he added. “It’s something we’ve never had before.”
At club level, Hutchinson chose his teams wisely with an eye to ensuring he would get playing time — with Osters and Helsingborgs IF in Sweden, FC Copenhagen in Denmark, PSV in the Netherlands and Besiktas in Turkey, where he payed 10 seasons and captained the side before retiring in June 2023 at the age of 40.
Turkish fans dubbed him “The Octopus” for his ability to win the ball back and hold onto it in his midfield role.
But the book reveals many trials and tribulations, especially at the beginning of his career when he was trying to find a club in Europe.
Today, Hutchinson, wife Sarah and their four children — ranging in age from one to nine — still live in Istanbul, where he is routinely recognized on the street.
He expects to get back into football, possibly coaching, down the line, but for the moment wants to enjoy time with his young family. He has already tried his hand as a TV analyst with TSN.
Herdman, for one, thought Hutchinson might become his successor as Canada coach.
Hutchinson says he never thought about writing a book but was eventually persuaded to do so.
“I felt like I could help out maybe some of the younger kids growing up, inspire them a bit,” he said.
The book opens with a description of how a young Hutchinson and his friends would play soccer on a lumpy patchy sandlot behind Arnott Charlton Public School in his native Brampton, Ont.
In May, Hutchinson and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown celebrated the opening of the Atiba Hutchinson Soccer Court, an idea Hutchinson brought to Brampton city council in March 2022.
While Hutchinson’s playing days may be over, his influence continues.
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“The Beautiful Dream, A Memoir” by Atiba Hutchinson with Dan Robson, 303 pages, Penguin Random House, $36.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024
LONDON – Canada will meet three-time champion Germany in the Davis Cup quarterfinals in Malaga, Spain this November.
Canada secured a berth in the quarterfinals — also called The Final 8 Knockout Stage — with a 2-1 win over Britain last weekend in Manchester, England.
World No. 21 Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal anchored a five-player squad that included Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., Gabriel Diallo of Montreal, Alexis Galarneau of Laval, Que., and Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, B.C.
The eight-team draw for the quarterfinals was completed Thursday at International Tennis Federation headquarters.
Defending champion Italy will play Argentina, the United States will meet Australia and Spain will take on the Netherlands. Schedule specifics have yet to be released but the Final 8 will be played Nov. 19-24.
Tim Puetz and Kevin Krawietz were unbeaten in doubles play last week to help Germany reach the quarterfinals. The country’s top singles player — second-ranked Alex Zverev — did not play.
The Canadians defeated Germany in the quarterfinals en route to their lone Davis Cup title in 2022. Germany won titles in 1988, ’89 and ’93.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
