The Los Angeles Dodgers received contributions throughout their lineup en route to a dominant 9-0 win over the New York Mets in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
Max Muncy gave the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead with an RBI single in the first inning. Shohei Ohtani, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts also had run-scoring hits in the victory.
The Dodgers also used a small-ball approach to manufacture runs against the Mets, as Edman and Gavin Lux each had a sacrifice bunt in the first four innings.
The Dodgers as a team had just 10 sacrifice bunts during the regular season.
“It’s just playoff baseball,” manager Dave Roberts explained after the win. “The truth of the matter is that the postseason is different than the regular season. It’s about 90 feet and some of that was making sure Shohei had a chance to get up. But to Tommy’s and Kiké’s credit, driving in those runs were huge.
“And Gavin getting the bunt down, Tommy getting the bunt down, it’s just team baseball. If you can get a guy in scoring position it just creates a little bit more stress.”
For Lux, it was the first time in his career he laid down a sacrifice bunt.
“I’ve been working on it a little bit since the season ended, so in those situations where it might be a tougher lefty or a situation where we need to stay out of a double play, I can get it down,” he said.
“I did it a lot coming up through the Minor Leagues, so it’s nothing foreign. Just working on it and doing whatever it takes to get it down.”
Gavin Lux sees benefit to Dodgers bunting
Lux agreed with Roberts that small ball is necessary to win games in October.
“I don’t think we sac bunted once, or twice for sure, all year,” Lux began. “You need to stay out of double plays, especially when you have Shohei coming up a hitter or two behind you. You want him to have an opportunity with a guy in scoring position, so it’s our job to get it down and stay out of the double play.
“That’s it. You just need to get it done.”
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