Atlanta Braves Walk-off Dodgers Again to Gain 2-0 Series Lead

The Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers locked horns on Sunday night at Truist Park in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Coming off an emotional walk-off win on Saturday night, the Atlanta Braves looked to go up 2-0 on the defending World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday.

Ian Anderson got the nod to start Game 2 for the Braves and Anderson was opposed by  Dodgers ace, Max Scherzer.

The Dodgers wasted no time in getting their offense going in Game 2 as Mookie Betts lead off the game with a perfectly placed pop into left field that would find grass for a leadoff single.

Cory Seager came to the plate next and deposited the first pitch he saw over the right-center field wall.

And with that, the Dodgers had a quick 2-0 lead just 6 pitches into the game.

Those two runs were the only runs Ian Anderson gave up, but after getting into and out of trouble in the third — with Max Scherzer putting up zeroes — Brian Snitker lifted Anderson in the bottom of the third in favor of pinch hitter Johan Camargo.

The Braves got their offense kickstarted in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Austin Riley drew a one-out walk from Scherzer and then Joc Pederson absolutely demolished a Scherzer curveball over the Chop House, tying the game at 2-2.

And with one swing of the bat, Joc Pedersen brought all the life back into Truist Park as the Braves and their fans were re-energized.  At 454 feet, it was the longest homer of the post-season thus far by any player on any team.

The game stayed deadlocked at 2-all until the seventh.

In the seventh, the Dodgers were threatening with runners on first and second and two outs so Dave Roberts went to Justin Turner, a past post-season hero for L.A., who was unable to start due to neck issues.

Brian Snitker opted for the righty/righty matchup as he lifted Tyler Matzek in favor of Luke Jackson, but Jackson ended up hitting Turner with a slider which loaded the bases for Chris Taylor.

Taylor came up with a clutch single off of Jackson that fell just in front of defensive replacement Guillermo Heredia, scoring two runs and giving the Dodgers a 4-2 lead.

Jackson recovered to get out of the seventh without any more damage but the Braves now had an uphill climb, needing to score two runs to tie and only having nine outs to do so.

After Blake Treinen set the Braves down in the seventh, the Dodgers turned to a starter — Julio Urias — to try to bridge the gap to the ninth and closer, Kenley Jansen.

Urias has been tough on the Braves in the past couple of seasons, but tonight, the Braves exacted a measure of revenge against the Dodger lefty.

The aggressiveness of Eddie Rosario and Braves’ third base coach Ron Washington along with the clutch hitting of Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley tied the game in the eighth.

But the Braves left the go-ahead run stranded at second and Game 2 headed into the ninth inning the same way Game 1 did:  with a tie score and Will Smith coming in to pitch the top of the ninth for the Atlanta Braves.

Smith did his part, despite a scary moment when Trea Turner came very close to untying the game with a (very) deep fly ball out, but the Braves went into the bottom of the ninth looking for their second straight walk-off win.

The Dodgers started the ninth with Brusdar Graterol, who was greeted by a broken-bat Travis d’Arnaud single.

d’Arnaud was lifted for pinch-runner, Christian Pache, as the Braves called on Dansby Swanson to bunt Pache over.   Swanson’s bunt was a little hard, and Graterol was able to field it.  After a nice pick by Corey Seager, the Dodgers erased Pache.

Guillermo Heredia was able to move Dansby into scoring position by tapping a weak grounder to third and the stage was set for Eddie Rosario.

Not wanting to get beat with his closer left standing in the bullpen, Dave Roberts turned to Kenley Jansen, who entered the game looking to strand Swanson on second and send the game into extra innings.

Jansen’s first pitch was his only pitch as Rosario hit a rocket up the middle, but right at Corey Seager.

Seager was able to get leather on it, but he did so from the side, which allowed the ball to roll far enough away from Seager to let Dansby score from second, and the Braves walked off the Dodgers for the second straight game.

The Atlanta Braves defeat the Dodgers 5-4 and grab a 2-0 lead in the NLCS.

Two games into this series the Braves are obviously sitting in a really good spot.

But the series is far from over.

Last year the Braves held both 2-0 and 3-1 series leads but ultimately succumbed to the Dodgers in seven games.

After an off-day on Monday, the Braves are scheduled to play the next three games in Los Angeles.

The one big advantage the 2021 Atlanta Braves have over their 2020 predecessors is Charlie Morton, who is scheduled to pitch Game 3 for the Braves.

Add Morton to Fried and Anderson having one more year of post-season experience under their belt and the starting pitching is much better during this post-season run for Atlanta.

Could this be the team to send Atlanta to their first World Series since 1999?

This is a long series, and there is a lot of baseball to be played.  But no matter what happens in Los Angeles the good news is there will be at least one more baseball game played in Atlanta, either in the NLCS or the World Series.