Riley walk-off hit spoils strong bullpen game

ATLANTA — The biggest news of Game 1 of the NLCS was made before the game began. Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts announced that Max Scherzer would NOT be starting in this one, citing arm fatigue from his Thursday night save in the NLDS. Instead, this one was going to be a bullpen game against the Braves’ best pitcher, Max Fried. And though the bullpen put in great work tonight, the Dodgers’ hitters just couldn’t get the clutch hits when they needed them. In the end, the Boys in Blue fell to the Bravos 3-2 on an Austin Riley walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.

Braves get a cheap run in the first

Once again, the Dodgers went with Corey Knebel to start this one. This time, it didn’t quite work as the Dodger brain trust was hoping. After the Dodgers’ failed to score in the top of the first, the righty Knebel faced the lefthanded Eddie Rosario to start the Braves’ half of the inning. Rosario had Knebel measured pretty well, and ripped a solid single to right.

Then, with Freddie Freeman at the plate with a 3-2 count, Rosario took off. Freeman whiffed on the pitch, and the Dodgers came within inches of turning a strike-’em-out-throw-’em out double play. But Rosario just beat Will Smith‘s throw to second to put a runner in scoring position with one out. Rosario then scooted to third on an Ozzie Albies grounder to the right side. Then, on Knebel’s very first pitch to Austin Riley, the Dodger righty threw a pitch very wide of the plate that Will Smith could not catch cleanly. It bounced off his glove and by the time Smith got the ball back to Knebel, Rosario slid across home plate with the Braves’ first run.

Dodgers answer in the second

The Dodgers came right back in the top of the second with a run of their own on a nice two-out rally. After Braves’ starter Max Fried got a couple of quick outs to start the inning, AJ Pollock stroked a ball into right field that Joc Peterson wasn’t able to cut off. Pollock was able to hustle into second with a double. Then, hitting in the eight hole, Chris Taylor came to the plate. He got quickly ahead of Fried 3-1 before fouling off a pitch to move to a full count. Then Taylor got a pitch he could handle. He stroked a 77 mph curveball into right field for a run-scoring single, and just like that the score was tied at one.

Taylor then stole second, but was left stranded there when pinch hitter Steven Souza Jr. struck out. This was the beginning of an unfortunate trend for the Dodgers: leaving men in scoring position. Over the course of the game, the Dodgers were 1-for-8 with RISP and stranded seven men on the basepaths. Usually, against a pitcher like Fried you don’t get that many scoring chances, so it was sub-optimal that they couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities that they did have during the game.

Will Smith continues to scorch in postseason

The Dodgers had a very brief lead in this one, in the top of the fourth inning. Will Smith led off the inning, and quickly fell into an 0-2 hole on two nasty curves from Fried. Then, the Braves’ ace got a little to cute for his own good when he tried to jam Smith with a fastball to set up more breaking pitches later in the at-bat. However, as we all know, you don’t throw the gas to the Fresh Prince. Smith blasted the heater deep to left and it easily cleared the fence for a solo home run. The Dodgers were in the lead halfway through the game and fans got the idea that just maybe we could sneak out of Truist Park with a first game victory.

Riley answers off Gonsolin to tie the score

However, the bullpen strategy is only as good as the “bulk” guy. And tonight that chore fell to Tony Gonsolin. After Knebel, Phil Bickford, and Justin Bruihl got the game into the fourth inning with the lead, Gonsolin just couldn’t hold it. Even in his outs, the Braves were barreling up the Cat Man pretty good in this one. And in the second hitter that he faced, he gave up a long pole-hugging home run down the left field line to Austin Riley. Gonsolin would only last 1.2 innings in this one, so the game went into the sixth now completely dependent on bullpen arms the rest of the way.

Pen strikes out fourteen in good outing

The bullpen, with only a couple of exceptions, was pretty terrific tonight. After Gonsolin, Alex Vesia, Joe Kelly, and Kenley Jansen all pitched scoreless innings in the the sixth, seventh, and eighth to push the game into the ninth still tied at two. Each was impressive. Vesia struck out a pair in a scoreless sixth, and Kelly did the same in the seventh.

Then, instead of usual eighth inning guy Blake Treinen, Roberts went with Kenley Jansen to attack the 8-9-1 hitters in the Braves’ order. He got Dansby Swanson on a first pitch pop fly, and then struck out pinch hitter Ehire Adrianza for out number two. Then, Jansen closed the door on the inning with a fairly routine groundout to Justin Turner off the bat of Eddie Rosario. The game was heading into the ninth tied up at two. High drama indeed.

Baserunning blunder costs Dodgers in ninth

The Braves’ Will Smith (the other Will Smith) came in to pitch the ninth. After both Albert Pujols and AJ Pollock popped out, it looked like it might be a very short inning indeed. However, Chris Taylor had a good at-bat and drew a two-out walk. Taylor had a good night at the plate in this one, going 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI.

However, he’d probably trade all of that to erase what came next. Dave Roberts called on Cody Bellinger to hit for Kenley Jansen. And once again, Belli came through. This time, he stroked a single off Smith over the head of second baseman Ozzie Albies and into right field. The ball kind of died on the grass, and for a moment, it looked like Chris Taylor might be able to make it to third base on the play.

Taylor took a big turn around second, but Joc Pederson charged the ball and through a strike into the infield. Taylor slammed on the brakes but it was too late. He was in no-man’s land between second and third. After a short rundown, Dansby Swanson applied the tag for the third out of the inning. Watching all this transpire from the on-deck circle was Mookie Betts, the Dodgers’ superstar who would never get a chance to drive in the run.

Ninth inning pain

If the top of the ninth was unfortunate, the bottom of the frame was even worse. Blake Treinen came on to pitch and the inning started off well enough. In typical Treinen fashion, he disposed of Freddie Freeman with a strikeout on four pitches, getting three straight swings-and-misses in the at-bat. Then, the inning sort of went south on Treinen. On the very next pitch, Ozzie Albies a little flyball into centerfield. And while Chris Taylor and shortstop Corey Seager both gave chase, it dropped between them for a bloop single.

The winning run was on base, and the wheels were put in motion. Treinen threw over to first a couple of times, and nearly nabbed Albies on the first one. Everyone in the park knew the speedy Albies was going to try to steal. And sure enough, on the very next pitch, he did just that. He got a great jump on Treinen and Will Smith never really had much of a chance. Treinen turned his attention to the hitter Austin Riley.

And with first now open, there may have been a brief thought of in Dave Roberts’ head of sending the hot-hitting Riley to first with a free pass, but it never happened. On the very next pitch, Treinen caught way too much of the plate with a slider, and Riley ripped a solid shot to left field. AJ Pollock had no chance to throw out Albies, and that was that. Albies crossed the plate and the Braves were 3-2 walk-off winners.

Bummer, but not a tragedy

Yes, the Dodgers lost. Yes, Austin Riley hit a home run and a walk-off single off Blake Treinen in the bottom of the ninth. But somehow, the Dodgers still feel like they’re in a pretty good place after Game 1 of the NLCS. Because of Dave Roberts’ decision to make this a bullpen game, the Dodgers now have the opportunity to come at the Braves with their three top starters all with adequate rest. It would have been nice to get this one, but you can’t be to broken up about losing 3-2 in this opener in the series.

Now, the Dodgers will throw Max Scherzer at the Braves on Sunday to try to even up the series. Once again, it’s not that important that they win the FIRST game of the series, but they need to win ONE in Atlanta to feel good about themselves. This one would have been great to steal tonight. It didn’t happen. Regroup and get back at it tomorrow.