BLUE BOMBERS
Dodgers make emphatic statement with 11-run first inning, break into win column
ARLINGTON, Texas — Max Muncy’s grand slam capped a record-setting 11-run first inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who coasted to a 15-3 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night that cut their National League Championship Series deficit to 2 games to 1.
The slam by Muncy off Grant Dayton was the third homer in the first, the highest-scoring inning in a major league postseason game. It was among a franchise-record five homers for the Dodgers, who set a team record for postseason runs.
Joc Pederson hit a three-run homer off starter Kyle Wright to start his four-hit night, and Edwin Rios went deep on next pitch. Corey Seager had a pair of RBI hits in the opening outburst, then added a solo homer in the third as the Dodgers built a 15-0 lead — the first team with that many runs in the first three innings of a postseason game.
Winner Julio Urias, with three wins in three appearances this postseason though making his first start, struck out five while allowing one run on three hits over five innings. He walked the first two batters, but no more.
Atlanta’s miserable start was eerily similar to last October’s Game 5 of the Division Series against St. Louis, when they gave up a 10-run first inning at home in a season-ending start by Mike Foltynewicz.
Three- time NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw likely will start in Game 4 for the Dodgers, two nights after he was scratched because of back spasms. Bryse Wilson makes his postseason debut as the third rookie right-handed starter for Atlanta in this series in what will be his first appearance since the final day of the regular season on Sept. 27.
The Dodgers had left the tying run at third base after a four-run bottom of the ninth in what was an 8-7 loss in Game 2 on Tuesday night. They were the visiting team in Game 3, and sent 14 batters to the plate for seven hits, three walks and a hit batter over 32 minutes in the the 29,786th halfinning in postseason history.