The Los Angeles Dodgers began their seven-game homestand with a highly anticipated matchup against the Atlanta Braves.
The Braves have been one of the best teams in MLB this season, so this could end up being a postseason matchup. They entered the series 7-3 in their last 10.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers have not been playing their best baseball as of late, so it marked a good test for them as they try to get back on track. They have been the inverse of the Braves in the last 10 games, going just 3-7.
Dodgers 3, Braves 1: key takeaways
Emmet Sheehan’s issues remain
Although Emmet Sheehan limited the Braves to just one run, his concerns from the entire season persisted.
The right-hander opened his outing by averaging 96.1 mph on his fastball in the first inning, but by the fifth inning, his average was down to 93.1 mph. He threw a fastball at both 97 mph and 90.6 mph in the outing.
Sheehan has continued to say he’s healthy and not dealing with any physical issues. Still, the velocity drop has plagued him throughout the season, and that may make him the ideal candidate to move to the bullpen if the Dodgers eventually need to open a rotation spot.
With that, he was only able to give the Dodgers 4.2 innings before exiting the game with two runners on. Sheehan has dealt with a lot of traffic in his outings once his velocity drop becomes significant, and that was the case tonight.
But the Braves scored their only run against him in the second inning after a single, double and RBI-single before Sheehan struck out the next two to end the threat.
Dodgers bullpen steps up
After Sheehan’s short outing, the Dodgers bullpen picked him up and shut down the Braves for the rest of the game.
Alex Vesia entered in the fifth to get the final out and help Sheehan out of a jam. Then Kyle Hurt, Will Klein and Brock Stewart each pitched one scoreless inning with one strikeout.
Tanner Scott picked up the save with a perfect ninth inning.
In total, the bullpen combined to pitch 4.1 scoreless innings against one of the premier offenses in baseball. The Dodgers’ pitching staff as a whole also limited the Braves to going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
Dodgers offense produces enough
The Dodgers’ offense didn’t have its best performance of the season, but they still had timely hits and did enough to win.
Kyle Tucker doubled home Teoscar Hernández in the second inning to tie the game at 1-1. Shohei Ohtani then gave them the lead in the fifth inning with a two-out single after Miguel Rojas reached on an error.
Freddie Freeman extended the lead with a home run in the sixth inning. The long ball against his former team marked Freeman’s 100th home run of his Dodgers career.
The Dodgers weren’t expected to have a high-offensive output against Chris Sale, but it was encouraging to see them scratch three runs across, given their recent struggles.
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