Dodgers top Braves to even NLCS and force first Game 7 at Globe Life Field
The most exciting game in sports — a postseason Game 7 — is up next at Globe Life Field.
One last game is needed to decide which National League team will play in the World Series after the Los Angeles Dodgers successfully used yet another life line to stay alive in the NL Championship Series.
The winner-take-all contest will be played at 7:15 p.m. Sunday.
The Dodgers evened the best-of-7 series on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves that was highlighted by Walker Buehler’s stingy pitching, another terrific catch by Mookie Betts and yet another Corey Seager home run.
Los Angeles is attempting to become the 14th team in MLB history to win a series after trailing 3-1. The excitement of Game 7 was already building moments after Game 6.
“I’m still sort of recovering from this one, but already thinking about Game 7,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “But, absolutely, that’s what you live for, man.”
Seager’s homer came in a three-run first inning against left-hander Max Fried, the Braves’ best starter who then did what all pitchers aim to do after putting their team in an early hole.
He shut down the Dodgers thereafter, pitching 6 2/3 innings, and gave Braves hitters more chances to chip away and kept the Atlanta bullpen from a heavy workload.
As the Braves begin to wonder if they have blown their best chance at reaching the 116th Fall Classic, they can take comfort knowing that Fried did them a great service that could tilt Game 7 in their favor.
“He regrouped,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That was big. He gave us a chance. We just couldn’t get the big hit. We’re in a good spot. I like the guy we’re going to pitch. The bullpen, everybody’s available. We’ll see what we do.”
Right-hander Ian Anderson will start for the Braves, and fellow rookie Tony Gonsolin is an option to pitch for the Dodgers. Their leashes will be short in a game in which every threat will be treated with the utmost caution, with every reliever likely available.
Buehler tossed six scoreless innings, doing his best work when the Braves threatened. No escape was bigger than in the second, after the Dodgers’ staked him to a 3-0 lead on back-to-back homers by Seager and Justin Turner and an RBI single by Cody Bellinger.
Atlanta loaded the bases with no outs, but Buehler struck out Austin Riley and Nick Markakis before getting Cristian Pache to ground out.
The Braves had two on with one out in the fifth when Betts robbed Marcell Ozuna of an RBI with a leaping catch at the wall, and they had a runner at third with two outs in the sixth, but Buehler wiggled off the hook both times.
“It was huge,” said Seager, whose five homers and 11 RBIs are all-time records for an NLCS of any length. “It set the table for Walker. He was unbelievable.”
Atlanta broke through once the Dodgers went to their bullpen. Markakis started the seventh with a triple and scored two batters later on a double by Ronald Acuna Jr., but Blake Treinen struck out Freddie Freeman and got Ozuna on a pop to right field to end the threat.
Right-handers Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen were perfect in the eighth and ninth.
Game 7 is now necessary.
“We’re not done,” Turner said. “We’ve still got a lot to accomplish. We’ve got a big one tomorrow.”
This story was originally published October 17, 2020 at 7:46 PM.
