The inning could have — arguably should have — been over already. But instead, the Atlanta Braves’ Michael Harris II stood 90 feet away from scoring the go-ahead run.
And the Dodgers, who failed to take care of the little things Sunday night, handed the lead back to the Braves.
Left-handed reliever Kris Bubic lost control of a sweeper. And it flew high and outside, off the end of catcher Will Smith’s glove and to the edge of the grass behind home plate.
Harris scored standing up. And the Dodgers trailed for the final five innings of Game 2 of the National League Division Series, ultimately a 3-2 loss, evening the series.
“We didn’t want to give in there,” said Bubic, who was trying to throw that slider for strike in a 2-and-0 count to Mauricio Dubón. “But that’s the last thing you want to do there.”
That wild pitch was one of many Dodgers missteps Sunday.
They entered Game 2 with a long list of advantages: The Dodgers were playing at home, they had momentum from the win the day before, they had one of best starting pitchers on the mound to counter a second straight Braves bullpen game.
They gave away every edge they had.
“We all knew it was going to be a good series,” veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Just two really good teams going at it. Pitching’s been really good.”
Braves left-hander Ray Kerr, who excelled down the stretch as a long reliever, served as the opener Sunday. And the Braves used six pitchers, leaning on right-hander Didier Fuentes for 3⅔ innings, to hold the Dodgers to two solo homers.
The Dodgers, despite starting two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, used seven pitchers. So much for that advantage.
The Dodgers managed just two hits off Kerr, each to open an inning. Freeman lined a single into right field to kick off the second. And Miguel Rojas sent a double into the left-field corner to begin the third.
The Dodgers stranded both — in sequences that included a pop-out bunt from Tommy Edman. Shohei Ohtani was the last batter Kerr faced, and with two runners on and one out, Ohtani popped up a high cutter in a full count.
Snell lasted only one inning more than Kerr.
Snell’s first frame easily could have spiraled. With one out, he gave up a single to Ronald Acuña Jr. and walked Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies to load the bases. But Snell escaped with just one run scored, on a grounder up the middle from Dubón. Shortstop Mookie Betts made a diving stop but had no chance at throwing out Dubón.
Snell then struck out Sean Murphy to end the inning, finishing the at-bat with three straight curveballs for strikes.
The one-run deficit could be erased. But the damage on his pitch count, up to 27 in that first inning, was done.
Snell surrendered just one more hit, but when he issued his fifth walk with two outs in the fourth inning, his pitch count was up to 90. Manager Dave Roberts strode from the dugout to pull him.
“He just was fighting himself with his delivery all game,” Roberts said, saying the groin injury that limited Snell in late September had not resurfaced. “I think in total, didn’t have fastball command, didn’t have slider command, and the changeup wasn’t there. He was pulling it.”
In the bottom half of the inning, Freeman, who was optimistic that he could shake off his September slump over the bye week, tied the score with a homer. But sloppy play extended the fifth inning and put the Dodgers in a hole again.
With two outs, in an 0-and-2 count, Bubic got Harris to chase an outside sweeper moving away from him. Harris leaned over to get his bat out to it and sent a line drive into the left field corner.
The Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández took a circuitous route to the ball and still missed by only inches. It caromed off the wall, allowing Harris to reach third base, in position to score on Bubic’s wild pitch.
“I didn’t think he hit it that good,” Hernández said. “I didn’t break in, but I broke to the side, and then when I realized, it was too late. Maybe I had a shot on it.”
The Dodgers had a chance at a comeback as soon as they were at bat again. But after they got two runners on against left-hander Dylan Lee, the Braves turned to Robert Suarez. He and Fuentes combined to retire 14 straight — a streak Max Muncy finally broke by hitting a homer with two outs in the ninth inning.
“It showed that they’re going to use any pitcher, try to get every matchup possible,” Roberts said. “ Obviously them pushing Fuentes to almost four innings, 40-something pitches, shows they’re going to ride certain guys.”
Max Muncy celebrates while crossing home plate after a solo home run during the ninth inning Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
While the Dodgers have a deeper rotation, the bullpen advantage goes to the Braves.
The Braves expanded their lead in the seventh inning against hard-throwing right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, who gave up a single to Olson and an RBI double to Harris.
Then right-hander Roki Sasaki got himself into a bases-loaded situation in the eighth, with Acuña at the plate, but got out of it with a double play. Sasaki then retired the side in order in the ninth.
Next, the series heads to Atlanta for two games. And Game 3 will be a matchup of two aces, Chris Sale for the Braves and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers.
No longer is everything stacked in the Dodgers’ favor.
Said Hernández: “We’ve been in tougher spots than this one.”
