After a 100-Degree Win Over the Braves, the Dodgers Hand Blake Snell the Ball

The Dodgers lead the National League Division Series, with the next game Sunday at 5:03 p.m. at Dodger Stadium on FS1.

The Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 5-3 at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, and Blake Snell starts for them Sunday.

The second game of the National League Division Series is Sunday, October 4, back at Dodger Stadium. First pitch is 5:03 p.m., on FS1. Atlanta hasn't named its starter: Braves manager Walt Weiss said Saturday that Chris Sale, the team's ace left-hander, might take the ball, but after Sale's heavy week of work, the club may wait until Sunday morning to see how he feels.

The figure that explains Saturday is 15. That's how many Braves hitters in a row Tarik Skubal retired, from Drake Baldwin's leadoff single in the first inning to Sean Murphy's solo homer leading off the sixth. Those were the only hits Atlanta got off him in six innings. He struck out seven in his first playoff start since the Dodgers landed him in an August trade, as the Globe reported at the time.

What the streak doesn't show is what the afternoon took out of him. The game was played in 100-degree heat, the second-hottest postseason game in Dodger Stadium history, True Blue LA reported. In the sixth, Skubal walked Ha-Seong Kim and Ozzie Albies. That 28-pitch inning was his last.

The Globe had reported that the 1 p.m. start came with 101 degrees in the forecast. The forecast missed by a degree.

Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, had said Friday that the plan was to grind through Atlanta's starters and get at a bullpen already worn from needing all three games to get past the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card round. "Then you can suffocate them," Roberts said, as quoted by True Blue LA.

Left-hander Dylan Dodd made the Dodgers wait. He threw three scoreless innings and struck out four, more than Atlanta could have counted on from a rotation that injuries and bad outings had thinned late in the season. With one out in the fourth, Freddie Freeman drew a walk from reliever Victor Mederos. Teoscar Hernández followed with a two-run homer that flew 431 feet into the left-field pavilion.

The public-address announcer told the crowd the shot went far enough to win a free soft drink for fans enrolled in the stadium promotion. The Dodgers had gotten little from their corner outfielders for most of the season, and Hernández got hot on August 30, homering in Detroit. Over his last 25 regular-season games, he batted .352. Ten of his hits in that run went for extra bases.

Against AJ Smith-Shawver in the sixth, Hernández singled and Kyle Tucker hit a two-run homer. It was only Tucker's sixth homer of the season at Dodger Stadium, against 12 on the road. Max Muncy added a solo shot, the 17th postseason homer of his career and the most by any Dodger.

Every one of Skubal's seven career postseason starts has lasted six innings or more, True Blue LA noted, and Saturday's was the first at home. He's struck out 63 hitters in them, and his postseason ERA is 1.97. Those numbers cover 45 2/3 innings, a span where one bad start can swing the ERA; seven straight long outings are harder to fluke. Snell, who follows him to the mound, said Saturday that a confident Skubal means a hard day for any lineup.

The opener carries weight in this round. Teams that win a Division Series opener have gone on to take 42 of 52 series. That count runs back to 2013, and it doesn't know who's pitching Game 2.

The bullpen made the ninth closer than it needed to be. Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia each threw a perfect inning. Tanner Scott then opened the ninth by allowing a single to Ronald Acuña Jr. and a two-run homer to Albies. Evan Phillips came in with two outs, walked Mauricio Dubón and got Austin Riley to ground out for his first postseason save. He still hasn't allowed a run in 13 playoff appearances.

Source: truebluela.com, retrieved October 4, 2026.