*Photo from the New York Post*
Atlanta leads series 2-1
The Atlanta Braves thought they had it bad when they gave up 10 runs in the first inning of the do or die game 5 of the NLDS against the St.Louis Cardinals last year. They figured out a way to one-up that. Max Muncy hit a grand slam, Corey Seager had two RBI in two first inning at bats, and the Los Angeles Dodgers shellacked the Braves with a 15-3 win in game 3. The Dodgers scored the most runs in the first inning in playoff history, with 11, and the most runs scored in a playoff game in franchise history, with 15.
In the first, Seager started the scoring with an RBI double, making it a 1-0 Dodgers lead. After that, Will Smith hit an RBI double, Joc Pederson hit a 3 run homer, Edwin Rios hit a solo homer, Seager hit an RBI single, and Muncy hit a grand slam, making it 11-0 Dodgers after the first inning. In the second inning, Cody Bellinger hit a solo homer to make it 12-0 Dodgers. In the 3rd, Seager hit a solo homer, Justin Turner scored on a ground out, and Bellinger hit an RBI single to make it 15-0 Dodgers. In the bottom of the 3rd, Cristian Pache got the Braves on the board with a solo homer, making it a 15-1 game. It stayed that way until the 9th inning, when Tyler Flowers scored on a groundout, and Johan Camargo hit an RBI double to make it 15-3.
Julio Urias got the win for the Dodgers, throwing 5 stellar innings. Urias allowed one run on 3 hits and two walks, striking out 5 Braves hitters. After Urias left, Kenley Jansen got the 6th for the Dodgers, throwing a perfect inning. Pedro Baez got the 7th inning and Alex Wood got the 8th, each throwing scoreless innings. Adam Kolarek got the 9th, allowing the two runs scored by the Braves.
Muncy, who's grand slam was a big contributor to the rout, said after the game that "We know who we are over here, we're a really good team. We kind of lost our footing the first two games, but we weren’t worried about anything, and tonight we went out and showed what we can do."
Seager, who landed a triple shy of the cycle, pointed to game two as the turning point, where the Dodgers had attempted a comeback that ultimately fell short. Seager said that "We felt a lot better in general. To finally break through at the end(of game two) definitely helps today, we rode that momentum through the first couple of innings."
Kyle Wright started the game for the Braves, being unable to make it out of the first inning in the loss. Wright allowed 7 runs, and Grant Dayton needed to finish the first, throwing two relief innings. Dayton didn't do any better, with 8 runs being charged to him. Huascar Ynoa then came on and threw 4 dominant relief innings, allowing one hit and 4 walks, striking out 4 hitters. Jacob Webb then threw a scoreless inning, and Shane Greene threw 1 1/3 innings to finish the game.
Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson said after the game that "At the end of the day, it's one game, there are things to build off of for tomorrow. If I know one thing about this team, it's that we come back. We'll come back tomorrow and prepare to play. We'll go out and compete, because that's just what we do."
The bullpen game today gives Snitker a difficult decision for who to start for game 5, but Wright, who only threw 28 pitches, is a possibility to start. Snitker said that "We're going to have to talk to Kyle and see what his mindset is tomorrow, I know he probably physically could, but we'll just have to wait and see tomorrow and talk to him about all that."
The series continues on Thursday, where Bryse Wilson serves as the opener for the Braves as they attempt to take a 3-1 series lead. The Dodgers look to force a game 6 as Clayton Kershaw takes the mound, having mostly recovered from back spasms that forced him to miss his scheduled game two start.
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