Steve Webb
ATLANTA, GA — L.O.B The saddest three letters in baseball. The Dodgers, hoping for a sweep of the rival Braves, had plenty of scoring opportunities in Wednesday’s finale. However, they just couldn’t capitalize, letting Braves’ starter Brice Elder off the hook again and again. Meanwhile, the Braves touched up Tony Gonsolin for two mammoth homers in the middle innings and got a sacrifice fly from Ozzie Albies in the top of the 9th to win the game in walk-off fashion by a score of 4-3.
In all, ten Dodgers were left on base in this one, and the team hit a paltry 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, which pretty much negated a solid start from Tony Gonsolin. The Cat Man gave up the dingers to Matt Olson and Marcel Ozuna, and both of them went a mighty long way. The no-doubters gave the Dodgers a 3-1 hole to climb out of in the later innings. In the top of the 8th, they managed to tie it up, thanks especially to a Miguel Vargas double, but the tie was not long for this world.
In the bottom of the 9th, Austin Riley got a lead-off double off Phil Bickford and then moved to third on a ground out by Travis d’Arnaud. After an intentional walk to Eddie Rosario set up the double play, Ozzie Albies stepped to the plate with a chance to walk it off. And he did just that. Bickford got ahead 0-2, but Albies fought hard, fouling of three straight pitches until he got the one he wanted. It was a low middle slider and Albies gave the ball a ride to right field. It stayed in the yard, but it was plenty deep to score Riley with the game winner from third.
Despite the loss, manager Dave Roberts saw a lot of positives in the three-game series. “Solid,” he said when asked for his assessment. “Being on the road for seven straight days. The time difference and all that stuff. The way we bounced back, collectively, I thought we did a fantastic job. For me, the effort, how we played, winning two of three … like I said, really good signs.”
Dang. So close to a sweep. Oh well. Onto Tampa!
