The Los Angeles Dodgers had a comeback victory over the Atlanta Braves in the rubber match of the series at Truist Park, winning 5-3 in 11 innings as both Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel had blown saves.
Tony Gonsolin turned in another strong outing and became the ERA leader among qualified pitchers after throwing 5.1 innings while giving up just one run on five hits. However, he exited the game trailing because Spencer Strider pitched six shutout innings.
The Braves added another run off Alex Vesia in the seventh inning and took their 2-0 lead into the ninth.
Singles by Gavin Lux and Chris Taylor put the tying runs on base with two outs in the ninth. Taylor then capitalized on Jansen’s struggles with holding runners by stealing second base.
That proved key when Trayce Thompson’s soft liner skipped off Matt Olson’s glove and carried into shallow right field for a game-tying, two-run single.
More love for Freddie. 🥺 pic.twitter.com/Mhvqjiev0z
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.@will_smith30 caught this so casually. 😱 pic.twitter.com/dhHeFd7QMd
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TIE GAME! pic.twitter.com/0mahIYLUI8
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Allow me to reintroduce myself. pic.twitter.com/cXnsrqVmgi
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Clutch Taylor! pic.twitter.com/5brf9bVmgO
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102 to end it! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Vv8XCvHXgT
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Freeman led off the 10th inning with an RBI double down the right field line that gave the Dodgers their first lead of the night. The Braves then tied the game in the bottom of the 10th with a run off Kimbrel.
However, the Dodgers responded in the 11th with an RBI double from Chris Taylor that went off Austin Riley’s glove, and Trea Turner extended his hitting streak to four games with a two-out RBI single.
Brusdar Graterol entered in the bottom of the 11th looking for his first save of the season, and the young right-hander pitched a perfect inning.
Dave Roberts believes Jansen added effort against Dodgers
The Dodgers lost the middle game of the three-game series and Jansen ended up earning his 20th save of the season by striking out the side.
But most impressive was his fastball velocity was sitting around 96 mph and touching 98 mph. Both were noticeable increases from the roughly 92 mph Jansen averaged the past two seasons.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts attributed the extra velocity to Jansen having some added emphasis against his former teammates.
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