The National League Division Series are opened and started right away with a lot of drama. The Milwaukee Brewers just barely averted a comeback victory for the Colorado Rockies, only to win in Extra Innings themselves. Afterwards, however, the Los Angeles Dodgers presented themselves sovereign against the Atlanta Braves.
When Mike Moustakas beat the walk-off RBI single in the tenth inning and brought MVP candidate Christian Yelich home, the world was fine again for the Brewers in their home Miller Park. One inning before, however, there was a mood of crisis, because after the “Bullpenning” concept had worked out with a total of four pitchers before, it was Closer Jeremy Jeffress of all people who represented the pickled cucumber. He lost a total of three hits and two runs and thus gave back the tight 2-0 lead shortly before the end of the goal.
Yelich took the lead with a 2-Run-Homerun in the third inning against Rockies starter Antonio Senzatela, who was otherwise convincing. He and his Reliever colleagues then kept the Rockies in the game and made it possible for the long slumbering Offense (four hits in total) to strike late.
After an RBI single by Charlie Blackmon and an error by Brewers-Shortstop Orlando Arcia Colorado had loaded the bases. Then it was Nolan Arenado who got the balance via Sacrifice Fly. The visitors then missed a great opportunity to take the lead when Blackmon was spotted at the Home Plate after David Dahl hit a ground ball to First Baseman Travis Shaw. Shortly thereafter Trevor Story collected a strikeout at the end of the inning.
It was decisive that Reliever Adam Ottavino went directly to the start of the tenth inning already into his second and directly distributed a walk to Yelich. Through a wild pitch he moved to the 2 ball and scored from the three to Moustakas’ hit at two outs.
Game 2 of the series will rise on Friday at 22.15 (live on DAZN).
Drama in Wisconsin, clear thing in Hollywood! The Dodgers set the course for victory early on. Left Fielder Joc Pederson directly beat a Lead-Off-Homerun against Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz, who was swimming early. He loaded the bases after Homer, but pulled his head out of the loop and finished the inning with just one run.
But in the second inning his problems continued: After two outs he hit Pederson with a pitch, gave a walk to Justin Turner and then cashed in a 3-Run-Homerun from Rookie Max Muncy for an intermediate 4-0. After only two innings (3 H, 4 ER) “Folty” was already over. The Dodgers then added a home run from Kike Hernandez in the sixth and a run from Yasiel Puig to Sac Fly from David Freese.
His counterpart, Hyun-Jin Ryu, who dominated from the beginning, was quite different. The left-hander gave away four hits over seven shutout innings (8 SO) and at no time did he even think about a comeback of the guests. While the Braves used six pitchers, L.A. needed four. Remarkable: The Dodgers worked out eight walks in the game, which underlines their great patience with the record.
Game 2 of the series will rise in the night to Saturday at 3:37 am (live on DAZN).
This article was published without prior review by Major League Baseball.