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Dodgers Reach Third Straight NLCS After 4-1 Win Over Braves
ReDodgers Reach Third Straight NLCS After 4-1 Win Over Braves
The Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to their third consecutive National League Championship Series with a 4-1 Game 4 victory over the Atlanta Braves, as dominant pitching and timely hits from Andy Pages and Max Muncy sealed the series.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are headed back to the National League Championship Series for the third straight season after closing out the Atlanta Braves with a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of the NL Division Series. The win sealed a 3-1 series triumph and continued a remarkable run for a franchise that has won the past two World Series titles.
Pitching defined the series from the outset. In Game 1, Tarik Skubal delivered a dominant performance for Los Angeles, though the Dodgers managed just a 5-3 win while going hitless with runners in scoring position. Game 2 shifted momentum toward Atlanta as Blake Snell struggled and a parade of Dodgers relievers could not contain the Braves, who scratched across three runs while Ray Kerr and Didier Fuentes held the powerful Los Angeles lineup to two. With Chris Sale set to start Game 3 at home, the Braves appeared to have seized the advantage.
That advantage vanished when Kike Hernandez and Freddie Freeman hit back-to-back home runs off Sale in the fourth inning of Game 3. Edwin Diaz survived a shaky ninth after a leadoff double, and the Dodgers escaped with a 3-1 win. Through three games, the two teams had combined for just 17 runs, a testament to the quality of both pitching staffs.
Game 4 followed the same low-scoring script. Tyler Glasnow started for Los Angeles and was effectively wild, walking five batters through 4 2/3 innings but never allowing a big hit. Atlanta struck first in the opening inning when Michael Harris II singled, stole second, advanced on a groundout, and scored on a bounced breaking ball that catcher Will Smith could not locate in time.
The Dodgers answered in the second with a nearly identical sequence. Shohei Ohtani walked, stole second as Teoscar Hernandez struck out, and advanced to third when Sean Murphy's throw sailed into center field. Max Muncy then hit what appeared to be a routine pop-up to short left center, but Mauricio Dubon — one night after robbing Freeman of a home run — dropped the ball, allowing Ohtani to score and tie the game.
The deadlock held until the seventh, when the Dodgers finally broke through against the Braves bullpen. After a Teoscar Hernandez single chased starter Tyler Mahle, Fuentes lost the strike zone. Rookie pinch hitter Josue De Paula walked with two outs, and Kyle Tucker followed with another walk. Braves manager Walt Weiss turned to veteran Robert Suarez to face Andy Pages, who fell behind 0-2 before working the count full and lacing a two-run single up the middle.
Edgardo Henriquez pitched a scoreless seventh, Tanner Scott struck out two in a clean eighth, and Muncy added insurance in the ninth with a long home run to right. Diaz, despite an injury-filled regular season, closed it out with a drama-free ninth, striking out Rowdy Tellez and inducing flyouts from Dubon and Austin Riley.
For all the attention on Los Angeles's star-studded lineup featuring Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freeman, and Tucker, it was Hernandez, Pages, and Muncy who carried the offense. The Dodgers managed just one hit with runners in scoring position all series but did enough to support their pitchers.
Atlanta's postseason exit was another disappointment after its 2021 title. The Braves lineup, loaded with Harris, Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin, Ozzie Albies, and Riley, managed just 18 hits in 124 at-bats — a.145 average — and scored only eight runs across four games. They never found the big hit needed to build a decisive inning against Yamamoto or Glasnow.
The Dodgers will face the winner of the Milwaukee Brewers-San Diego Padres series. With the Brewers leading 2-1, the NLCS could feature a matchup of the only two teams to win 100 games during the regular season. If Milwaukee can avoid using Jacob Misiorowski in the remainder of the division series, he would be lined up for two starts in the NLCS plus a likely relief appearance.
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