Yamamoto outduels Sale as Dodgers grab 2-1 NLDS lead — SkimNews
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- Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out a postseason career-high 10 batters over seven innings, allowing four hits and one run with no walks, as the Dodgers took a 2-1 NLDS lead over the Braves in Atlanta.
- Kiké Hernández broke a scoreless tie with a two-run homer off Chris Sale in the fourth inning, then followed it up with advice to Yamamoto on the mound in the fifth; the piece notes Hernández's career playoff OPS is roughly 120 points higher than his regular-season mark.
- Chris Sale gave up both homers — Hernández's two-run shot on a changeup and Freddie Freeman's solo blast on a 96 mph sinker — finishing with five innings, seven strikeouts, and no walks, but the Dodgers chased him by the sixth.
- Freddie Freeman, playing his first postseason game at Truist Park since leaving Atlanta in free agency after 2021, hit a solo homer to right field in the fourth to make it 3-0; the crowd's boos during his first at-bat grew louder after the blast.
- Game 4 is set for Wednesday at Truist Park with Tyler Glasnow facing Tyler Mahle, and the Dodgers' bullpen enters rested after Tanner Scott handled the eighth and Edwin Díaz worked around a leadoff double for a clean ninth.
- Yamamoto's postseason body of work over the last three years — 17.1 more innings than any other pitcher and a 2.14 ERA — is the kind of track record teammate Tarik Skubal cited when saying, 'When he goes out there, I'm more confident that we're going to win.'
Why it matters: The Dodgers are now one win from a third consecutive NLCS appearance, chasing the first three-peat since the 1998-2000 Yankees, and Yamamoto's seven innings preserved a fully rested bullpen for the rest of a best-of-five series they lead 2-1.
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