A disastrous fourth inning nearly doomed the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, but Cody Bellinger and Mookie Betts lifted them off the mat for a 6-5 comeback win against the Atlanta Braves.
Corey Seager provided L.A. with a lead behind his two-run home run in the first inning for a second consecutive game, but their inability to further take advantage of Charlie Morton laboring early proved costly.
Morton walked three consecutive batters to load the bases, but worked out of the jam by retiring Chris Taylor.
Morton then stranded a Mookie Betts single and stolen base in the second inning, and Gavin Lux after walking him in the third.
After benefitting from Lux making a catch on a sinking line drive that Eddie Rosario misread and ran into a double play in the first inning, Buehler was hurt by his defense in the fourth. Following Freddie Freeman’s second base hit of the game, Austin Riley lifted a deep drive to center field.
Lux appeared to be preparing himself for a leaping attempt to rob Riley of a home run, and instead had the fly ball go off his glove in front of the wall.
When Buehler tried to take matters into his own hands, a missed call on what would have been strike three to Joc Pederson cost him. Two pitches later Buehler surrendered an RBI single to his former teammate.
Adam Duvall followed that with a game-tying RBI single, and after a walk loaded the bases, Dansby Swanson’s hard-hit grounder went off Seager’s glove and rolled into shallow left field to bring in the go-ahead run.
Buehler nearly got out of the jam with relatively minimal damage allowed, but he walked in a run with two outs and saw his day come to an end there.
Despite tying a career high with six walks, Morton got through five innings with just the two runs allowed.
Atlanta’s bullpen held the Dodgers there until the eighth inning. Will Smith’s leadoff single wound up starting a bit of a rally that AJ Pollock contributed to with a one-out base hit. Bellinger contributed a game-tying home run, and Betts’ RBI double provided L.A. with a decided lead.
Dodgers turn to Urias
After suggesting the team would potentially push Julio Urias back to Game 5 if more recovery time was needed after his relief appearance, manager Dave Roberts said the left-hander would start Wednesday.
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