Six-run sixth gives Atlanta 3-1 series lead
ARLINGTON — Marcell Ozuna homered twice, MVP candidate Freddie Freeman delivered the goahead hit off Clayton Kershaw and the Atlanta Braves moved within one win of ending a two-decade World Series drought by routing the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-2 on Thursday night.
The Braves took a 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series, bouncing back from getting pounded 15-3 the previous night. Atlanta will try to reach its first World Series since 1999 when it plays Game 5 Friday night.
“Feels good, feels really good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Still have a lot of work to do, you know how quick things can turn. I was really proud of the guys, how they bounced back.”
Ozuna had four hits and drove in four runs. It was 1-1 in the sixth when the Braves scored six times, with Freeman hitting a tiebreaking double and Ozuna following with an RBI double that
chased Kershaw.
A night after the Dodgers had a record 11-run first, they managed only one hit — asolo homer by Edwin Rios— over six innings against 22-year-old rookie righthander Bryse Wilson in his postseason debut.
“Hewas in complete con
trol.… He had a really good look about him,” Snitker said. “He had good tempo, and the stuff was live. Itwas huge, a huge effort by him.”
While the Braves’ outburst also lasted more than a half-hour but without as many runs as LA’ saday earlier, it was more than big enough enough after Ronald Acuna Jr. led off the decisive six-run sixth with an infield single on a play that ended with him, Kershaw and second baseman Kike Hernandez all on the ground.
“They’re similar to us as far as they build on momentum really well,” Kershaw said. “It just seems like they have that domino effect when one thing gets going. They just continue to build on that. And they’ve got great hitters, too.”
Atlanta had gotten even 1-1 in the fourth when Ozuna turned an 86-mph slider from Kershaw into a 109mph rocket that went 422 feet to left for his second postseason homer. Ozuna went even deeper in the seventh, a 434-foot shot to straight away center.
Wilson became the thirdyoungest pitcher to allow one or no hits over at least six innings in a postseason game. The righthander struck out five and walked one, starting with a 1-2-3 first on 10 pitches and throwing his last pitch before.
Kershaw, scratched from his scheduled start in Game 2 two days earlier because of back spams, struck out four, walked one and allowed four runs on seven hits in five-plus innings. The three-time NL Cy Young Award winner is now 11-12 with 4.31 ERA in postseason, as opposed to his 175-76 record and 2.43 ERA in the regular season during his 13 years in the big leagues.