After dropping two out of three to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Los Angeles Dodgers began a four-game series with another National League East potential playoff team, the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.
The game looked to be a pitcher’s duel early, but the Dodgers offense eventually broke through, resulting in an 8-2 victory at SunTrust Park.
Veteran starters Rich Hill and Anibal Sanchez had everything working either as the two teams combined for just three hits and no runs in the first four innings of the game.
The Dodgers finally broke through in the fifth though when Matt Kemp walked to begin the inning and then an infield single by Cody Bellinger accompanied by a throwing error from former Dodger Charlie Culberson put runners at second and third. They both then came around to score on a groundout by Chris Taylor and single by Alex Verdugo.
They then added to that lead in the sixth on a solo home run by Manny Machado, his first since joining the club to give them a 3-0 lead.
Hill then helped out his own cause in the seventh with an RBI-single to score Verdugo. He later scored when both Joc Pederson and Yasmani Grandal doubled to extend the Dodgers lead to 6-0.
While all that was going on, Hill also had one of his best outings on the mound as well as he had the Braves off balance all night. He tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out eight.
For good measure, Los Angeles then added two more runs in the eighth on another error by Culberson to make it 8-0.
Daniel Hudson tossed the eighth for the Dodgers, giving up a two-run home run to Braves rookie Ronald Acuña Jr. Pedro Baez then tossed a scoreless ninth to close out the victory.
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