Time will tell if this weekend’s series is a postseason preview.
But Friday night certainly had the feel of a playoff game.
On one side, the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers.
Freddie Freeman belts a solo homer in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-1 win over the Braves on May 8, 2026 in Los Angeles. AP
On the other, a red-hot Atlanta Braves squad that arrived in Los Angeles tied for the most early-season wins in the majors.
Both teams possess high-powered offenses, with the Braves leading baseball in runs scored and the Dodgers topping all clubs in OPS.
Both teams have talented pitching staffs, the Dodgers ranking second in ERA and the Braves led by former Cy Young winner Chris Sale.
On Friday, they each topped it off by turning one spectacular defensive play after the next.
“Tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said, “was a typical sort of October game.”
A typical game, with a typical result, as the Dodgers did what they usually do in high-profile matchups by grinding out a 3-1 win to take the series-opener at Dodger Stadium.
“For me, it’s a pretty good win,” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said. “Because it keeps telling us that we are ready for the big picture.”
Friday was decided on the margins, ultimately coming down to one costly mistake and one big swing.
Chris Sale allowed three runs, two earned, over seven innings in the Braves’ loss to the Dodgers. AP
With the score tied 1-1 in the fifth inning, Braves rookie shortstop Jim Jarvis –– fresh off a stunning diving catch in the bottom of the fourth and his first career hit in the top of the fifth –– airmailed a throw into the dugout that put Rojas on second base.
Three batters later, Shohei Ohtani snuck a two-out ground-ball through the infield for a go-ahead RBI single.
“Two-out hits, we gotta get those,” Roberts said. “Especially against a guy like Sale.”
In the sixth, the Dodgers would stretch their advantage, when Freddie Freeman capitalized on a rare misfire from the 37-year-old left-hander. In a 0-1 count, Sale left a fastball over the heart of the plate. With his biggest swing in weeks, Freeman clobbered it to center for his first home run since April 6.
“I would’ve taken a broken-bat bloop against Chris,” Freeman joked. “Probably the toughest lefty you’re going to face in this game as a left-handed hitter.”
Shohei Ohtani snuck a two-out ground-ball through the infield for a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ win over the Braves. AP
That was enough to give the Dodgers (24-14) some breathing room. And after a 4 ⅔-inning, one-run start from Emmet Sheehan, they got 5 1/3 scoreless innings from the bullpen to close it out.
It started with Alex Vesia, who stranded a pair of runners he inherited from Sheehan in the fifth. Kyle Hurt came on next, gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the sixth, then escaped the jam in his highest-leverage appearance so far this season.
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From there, Will Klein and Brock Stewart built a bridge to the ninth inning. Then, Tanner Scott emerged for his third save.
“You gotta prevent runs and use the arms in the ‘pen that you got,” Roberts said. “And we prevented runs tonight and got just enough hits.”
There were other key moments mixed in along the way. Like a perfect relay play from Teoscar Hernández and Rojas to gun down a runner at home in the fourth. Or Rojas winning a foot race to second base –– despite playing through some leg pain he suffered earlier in the game –– before absorbing a collision with a baserunner. Or Dodgers pitching holding the Braves (26-13) to just a 1-for-10 mark with runners in scoring position overall.
And though the Dodgers didn’t exactly solve Sale in a seven-inning, seven-strikeout start, they ultimately didn’t have to. Instead, they were simply a little better in every other phase –– finding a way to win on a night full of shades to the fall.
After a 4 ⅔-inning, one-run start from Emmet Sheehan (above), the Dodgers’ relief corps combined for 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball in their win over the Braves. AP
What it means
That, when facing premier competition, the Dodgers can win in a number of ways.
After all, the team was out-hit 9-5 on Friday. Sale easily outshined Sheehan, who continued to battle fluctuating fastball velocity, on the mound.
Yet, as the club has done so often over the past two Octobers, they prevailed nonetheless.
“We obviously put together a really quality, quality game played today,” Freeman said.
Who’s hot
The Dodgers got on the board Friday courtesy of Kyle Tucker, who continues the slow process of turning his season around.
With two outs in the second, Tucker was facing a 1-2 hole against Sale when he got a shin-high slider over the outer edge of the plate.
He was early with his swing, but rode the pitch out and somehow got the barrel to it, pulling a double down the right-field line to erase an early 1-0 deficit.
The hit marked Tucker’s seventh double in his last 14 games (a stretch that also includes a home run), and helped him raise his batting average to .288 in that time.
The Dodgers got on the board Friday courtesy of Kyle Tucker, who continues the slow process of turning his season around. AP
The $240 million signing is still hitting just .254 on the season with a sub-.750 OPS, but he’s at least been contributing more regularly since being dropped down the lineup.
Who’s not
With Mookie Betts out on a rehab assignment and set to rejoin the Dodgers on Monday, a potentially difficult roster decision is on the horizon.
In a rare chance to start Friday, utilityman Santiago Espinal didn’t exactly help his cause.
While Espinal worked a couple long at-bats against Sale, he only turned one of them into a hit. And even then, he got himself thrown out trying to stretch for an ill-advised hustle double on an opposite-field line drive.
Espinal, a former All-Star looking to revive his MLB career with the Dodgers this year, is now batting just .200. It’s possible that, when Betts returns, the Dodgers will opt to send one of Hyeseong Kim or Alex Freeland back to the minors, where they could get more regular playing time.
But both of them have been productive lately, raising the possibility that the Dodgers could cut Espinal loose in the next few days.
Up next
Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell will make his season debut Saturday night, after missing the start of the campaign recovering from offseason shoulder fatigue. The Braves will turn to former All-Star Spencer Strider, for what will be only his second start of the year since returning from an oblique strain.
