ATLANTA – The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1 in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday night, ending Atlanta’s season and sending Los Angeles to a third straight National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers won the best-of-five series 3-1. They will face the winner of the San Diego Padres-Milwaukee Brewers series in the NLCS.
Andy Pages broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning with a two-run single to centre field. The hit came against Robert Suarez with the bases loaded after Braves starter Tyler Mahle was pulled following a single by Teoscar Hernandez. Reliever Didier Fuentes walked two of the three batters he faced before Suarez entered.
Max Muncy added a late home run off Braves closer Raisel Iglesias to make it 4-1.
Atlanta scored first. Michael Harris II singled, stole second and scored in the first inning when a Tyler Glasnow curveball got past catcher Will Smith for a wild pitch. Los Angeles tied it in the second after Shohei Ohtani walked, stole second and came around on a wild throw and a dropped ball.
Mahle allowed three hits and one unearned run before he was pulled with 85 pitches in the seventh. Glasnow started for Los Angeles. The Braves left seven runners on base and went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, according to the Atlanta News First recap.
Ozzie Albies and Harris each hit a late double, but Atlanta could not push across a second run.
The series turned on Game 3 in Atlanta on Oct. 6, when the Dodgers won 3-1 behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who allowed one run over seven innings and struck out 10, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. Braves starter Chris Sale gave up three runs over five innings. Enrique Hernandez hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Freddie Freeman followed with a solo shot.
“One bad inning kind of ruined the whole game,” Sale said after that loss. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said: “Any time you can get Chris Sale out of a game after five innings you’re doing something.”
Atlanta had won Game 2 to level the series at 1-1, but the Braves’ offence managed just one run in each of the final two games. Harris was the lineup’s most consistent hitter in the postseason, according to MLB.com.
The Dodgers now wait to learn their NLCS opponent. The Padres and Brewers are still playing their division series.
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Via MLB.com and Atlanta News First. Game 3 details via Fox 5 Atlanta.
