LOS ANGELES — They were down for most of the game, but the Dodgers certainly weren’t out of it.
The Braves jumped out to an early lead against Walker Buehler, but Los Angeles put together a late rally to turn the tables in a 3-2 win at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night. With the Giants losing to the Brewers, 6-2, in San Francisco, Los Angeles is now just a half-game back in the National League West race.
The offense was quiet against Braves starter Charlie Morton, who held the Dodgers to one run — on a Mookie Betts home run in the fourth — over six innings as he kept them off balance with his curveball. When Atlanta called upon its bullpen, the hits started dropping for the Dodgers, with the most important one belonging to Corey Seager: an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth.
With Betts on first and one out, Seager lined a double to center field on a fastball from reliever Tyler Matzek. The eight-pitch at-bat started with six consecutive fastballs on the outer half of the plate before Seager saw an offspeed pitch. He fouled off an 87.5 mph slider, but Seager was ready for the final fastball in a location that had fooled him previously.
“He’s tough. He throws hard, he beat me a couple of times and I was just kind of trying to stay direct,” Seager said. “Fortunately, I came out on top.”
Betts kept his eyes trained on the basepaths and kicked into high gear as soon as the line drive launched off Seager’s bat. Betts sprinted at 27.5 feet/second on the double and cleared home plate without a throw, as shortstop Dansby Swason mishandled the relay throw from center fielder Joc Pederson.
“That’s Mookie, that’s why he’s here. That’s why we signed him the way we did. He’s a special player and does a lot of things really well on the field,” Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler said of Betts scoring from first base. “Corey [does] the same thing. We had a big play from two of our big-time players.”
Buehler was tagged for two runs through seven innings, one being a long ball from Pederson in the third that started the game’s scoring. The Braves added to their lead when Travis d’Arnaud drove in Austin Riley in the fourth inning. However, perhaps one of the biggest plays in the game came in the second.
Buehler mislocated a fastball in the top of the strike zone against d’Arnaud, whose bat didn’t miss any of it. As the fly ball drifted to the stands in the right-field corner, Betts redirected his path on the warning track to reach over in the fan-filled first row to rob d’Arnaud of a possible home run. The ball, which traveled 348 feet with an exit velocity of 97.5 mph, would have been a homer in 22 other ballparks, per Statcast.
“Things get a little tricky down in those corners here,” Buehler said. “But I think we kind of have the expectation with [Betts] that if it can be caught that it will be, and he keeps doing those kinds of things.”
As they close the book on August, the Dodgers end the month in the best position they’ve been in since July 6. Los Angeles has been able to capitalize on San Francisco’s recent struggles and it begins a three-game series against the Giants on Friday.
“We’re just trying to play good baseball right now,” Seager said. “We’re trying to win series, win games and just handle our own business and let the chips fall.”
The Dodgers have won 15 of their last 18 games. At the beginning of that stretch, they were a season-worst five games behind their longtime divisional rival.
“It’s a resilient team, but also very methodical in how we approach each night to focus on winning one ballgame. I really believe our best baseball is still ahead of us,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think that the pitching has carried us in the last three weeks, but I’ve seen some good things as far as on the offense, collectively, that we’re going to put some big numbers up here going forward.”
