Belli and Betts blast Boys in Blue back from the brink!

LOS ANGELES — Five outs. Five measly outs were all that stood between the Los Angeles Dodgers and sure oblivion. After bungling their way through seven pedestrian innings of baseball in Game 3 of the NLCS, the Dodgers found themselves in a 5-2 hole with one out in the bottom of the eighth and only one man on base. Justin Turner had just popped out and the Dodgers were headed into the lower half of a lineup which was not exactly ripping the cover off the ball in this one.

However, from there they staged one of the most epic comebacks in Dodger postseason history that is destined to share shelf space with Kirk Gibson and Rick Monday in the Dodger memory from this day forward. They pounced on the Atlanta pen, getting five hits in the inning, and before it was over secured a thrilling 6-5 win to keep their head above water in the NLCS. Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts supplied the key hits in this epic playoff game.

Déjà vu in the first as Mookie and Corey get the Dodgers on the board

Walker Buehler got the start for the Dodgers today with plenty of rest. However, the Braves didn’t seem to be having much trouble measuring up the Dodgers’ ace early on this one. If not for a nice catch and an Eddie Rosario baserunning blunder in the top of the first, the Braves could very well have had a big inning. However, Buetane was able to get out of the inning with no damage on the scoreboard.

Things seemed to be looking up right away for the Dodgers once they hit the bat rack. For the second straight game, they got quick production out of the top of the order. This time, Mookie Betts led off the game with a walk from Braves starter Charlie Morton. Then, up came Corey Seager, and in an almost exact carbon copy of his first inning at-bat on Sunday, Seager went yard against the Braves yet again. He took a 1-2 curve up in the zone from Morton and drilled it over the centerfield fence, and once again, the Dodgers were off to an early lead.

Buehler not sharp, runs into trouble in the fourth

Though he got through the first three innings without giving up a run, the Braves seemed to be hitting Buehler’s stuff pretty well in the early going. However, Buehler was helped by a couple of double plays in the field to keep the Braves off the scoreboard. Nobody was quite so lucky in top of the fourth, where practically everything went wrong that could. Suffice to say it was a mess.

Gavin Lux missed a ball that he should have caught. Walker Buehler got ripped off out of a strikeout of Joc Pederson and then gave up an RBI on the next pitch. Corey Seager had a ball bounce off his glove into left field to score a run. Walker Buehler walked a run home. It was all just awful. By the time the horror show had ended, ten Braves had come to the plate and four runs had scored. It could have been worse, but luckily after Buehler was lifted with the bases still loaded, Alex Vesia got Freddie Freeman to fly to left on one pitch and the inning came to a merciful end. But the damage had been done. In a game that the Dodgers had to win, they now trailed 4-2.

The Braves keep piling up hits and the Dodgers… don’t.

The next few innings, the Braves hitters kept attacking the underside of Dave Roberts‘ bullpen. In all, they would collect 12 hits on the day (five off the pen), and the besieged Dodgers hurlers were dealing with traffic all afternoon. But like in the fourth, it could have been a whole lot worse, as the Brave stranded ten men of their own on the bases in this one. Somehow, Roberts got just enough out of his arms to hang around until the late innings, a fact that would prove crucial in time.

Meanwhile, after that big Seager homer in the first, the Dodgers were mighty quiet with the bats. They got a couple of knocks and some walks, but mostly it was not good. In fact, things looked so grim that some Dodger fans were even shown heading for the exits as early as the seventh inning, when the Dodgers went down 1-2-3. However, those who did leave heard the most amazing thing on their car radios on the 110 South. A comeback. An epic comeback. Here’s how it happened:

Belli for the tie!

After Chris Taylor made a nice sliding catch to end the top of the inning, the Dodgers went into the bottom of the eighth trailing by three. Will Smith got things started by doing a nice piece of opposite field hitting for a single to lead off. Then, after a Justin Turner pop-out, AJ Pollock came up for second time in the night. Pollock, who had replaced Gavin Lux in the outfield, was able to squirt a ground ball up the middle for a base hit. With just one out, the Dodgers had already managed to get the tying run to the plate in the person of Cody Bellinger.

Though he’s not all the way back, Cody’s been playing much better baseball in the postseason, entering the game with a .286 average so far. The only thing lacking in his little comeback was hitting for power, as Cody’s pre-game slug sat at a pretty tepid .333 (only one extra base it in October — that big double in San Francisco). Still, the Dodger faithful rose as one, sensing a “moment” might be in store. Bellinger watched the first pitch from reliever Luke Jackson sail wide for ball one. Then, he took a couple of big swings, one at a slider, and another at a fastball. Both whiffs.

Now, in a 1-2 hole, broadcast analysts Ron Darling and Jeff Francoeur opined on Bellinger not trying to swing for the fences in this situation. It was good advice, advice which Bellinger completely ignored on the next pitch. Jackson greased him a high fastball (he’d read the scouting report), and 9 times out of 10, it’s a chase for strike three. However, this one time out of ten Bellinger tracked the pitch perfectly and put a good swing on the ball. WHACK! The ball sailed deep to right center and easily cleared the wall. A game-tying home run! Bellinger had to have been on Cloud 9 as he connected with that pitch, as he effectively buried a season of garbage under this amazing monument to his grit.

Mookie for the win!

After Cody Bellinger toed the plate with the Dodgers’ fifth run, the Dodgers could have packed it in and prepared for the ninth, but they had not yet begun to fight. Chris Taylor ripped Luke Jackson’s very next pitch to left for a single, and the Dodgers were right back in business. Matt Beaty was sent up to pinch-hit for the pitcher’s spot, and while he didn’t do much with the lumber, a stolen base from Chris Taylor got him into scoring position. Then, when Beaty grounded to second off new reliever Jesse Chavez, Taylor was able to move to third. The Dodger baserunning (other than the obvious gaffe in Game 1) has been excellent in this series, and the little fact of this steal and move to third is just more evidence of that.

The Dodgers had somehow worked their way around to the top of the batting order in this inning, and still had one more out to give. And, Mookie Betts came to the plate, still hitting over .300 in the postseason. With Taylor camped on third, all it would take is a hit to anywhere to score a run. Betts didn’t waste any time. He hijacked a Chavez sinker for a first-pitch double that easily scored Taylor with the go-ahead run. In the space of less than ten minutes, Dodger Stadium had gone from tomb-like despair to absolute bedlam.

Jansen looks dominant in save

Finally, Kenley Jansen got an actual opportunity to get a postseason save in 2021. He’s had a couple of wins in late comebacks, but Tuesday was the first time he’d actually been in a save situation. To say he made the most of it would be an understatement. He absolutely mowed through the heart of the Braves lineup, sending their power hitters back to the dugout looking foolish. First, he struck out Austin Riley looking on a beautifully set-up sinker. Then, he got Joc Pederson to swing and miss on a very similar pitch. Finally, slugger Adam Duvall fouled a third strike into the mitt of Will Smith for the game’s final out. The final score: 6-5 Dodgers, in the third straight one-run game in the series.

Urias for Game 4

Now trailing 2-1 in this best-of-seven series, the Dodgers still have a pretty big mountain to climb. But they can take the next step on the journey with another win tomorrow. Dave Roberts will send Julio Urias to the mound in this one. Atlanta is still to name their starter. However, Urias is sure to look better on paper than whoever they run out there. The only question now is a human one. After that ill-advised relief outing on Sunday, what does he have left in the tank for Game 4? Let’s hope it’s a lot. Because with a bullpen game already scheduled for Thursday, we can use all the innings out of El Culichi that we can get.