Padres’ rally in 9th vs. LA falls short
Braves feel chipper after beating Marlins for 2-0 series lead
ARLINGTON, Texas — Cody Bellinger homered and robbed Fernando Tatis Jr. of a go-ahead shot, and Joe Kelly got the final out with the bases loaded in a tension-filled ninth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers barely held off the San Diego Padres 6-5 on Wednesday night for a 2-0 lead in their NL Division Series.
Kelly retired Eric Hosmer on a grounder to earn the save after Dodgers All-Star closer Kenley Jansen wobbled in the ninth. Los Angeles can sweep the best-of-five set from its NL West rival Thursday night.
Bellinger nearly went to a knee to hit a long home run and then kept the Dodgers ahead with a leaping catch at the center-field fence.
The Padres were down one with a runner on and two outs in the seventh when Tatis hit a towering drive to center. Bellinger ran nearly 100 feet while watching the ball, then jumped and extended his gloved right hand above the 8-foot wall to make the catch.
Brusdar Graterol, the second Dodgers reliever after starter Clayton Kershaw, slung his glove and cap away and thrust both arms into the air to celebrate.
Game 3 is Thursday night, when with a win the Dodgers would advance to the NLCS for the fourth time in five seasons. .
Corey Seager put the NL West champion Dodgers ahead to stay with his two-run double in the third and scored on the first of Max Muncy’s two RBI singles in the game. Leading off the next inning, Bellinger drove a ball 433 feet to center to make it 4-1.
Kershaw followed up his gem in the clinching game of the first round against Milwaukee with six strikeouts and no walks over six solid innings to get the win. The lefty allowed three runs, including back-to-back solo homers by Manny Machado and Hosmer in the sixth.
Following walks to Tatis and Machado that loaded the bases, Kelly retired Hosmer for his first save this postseason after Jansen allowed two runs in the ninth, on a pinch-hit RBI double by Mitch Moreland before he scored on Trent Grisham’s single. Kelly came on with two outs and walked Tatis and Machado before Hosmer’s groundout.
Zach Davies allowed four runs over five innings, the longest out
ing by a Padres pitcher in their five games this postseason.
BRAVES 2, MARLINS 0: In Houston, rookie Ian Anderson pitched like an October veteran. Old pro Nick Markakis threw the best strike of the game. And just like that, Atlanta is on the verge of something it hasn’t done since the days of Chipper, the Big Three and Bobby Cox.
Anderson blanked Miami into the sixth inning, Markakis made a nifty play in right field to help preserve the lead late and the Braves threw another playoff shutout in a victory for a 2-0 lead in the NL Division Series.
The Braves have pitched three shutouts in four games during this year’s playoffs. They’re just the third team in MLB history to toss three shutouts in the first four games of a postseason, joining the 1966 Baltimore Orioles and the 1905 New York Giants.
Travis d’Arnaud and Dansby Swanson each homered for the second straight day, putting the Braves one win away from a sweep in the best-of-five matchup. Game 3 is Thursday in Houston.
“It’s hard to bunch hits together, pitching is too good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Power, I think is something that plays in the postseason and was witnessed today.”
Atlanta hasn’t reached the NL Championship Series since 2001 when Chipper Jones, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz played under Cox.
The Braves have lost in the division series eight times since then, including in the last two seasons.
Anderson scattered three hits and struck out eight over 5⅔ innings. The lanky righthander, who made his major league debut in late August, added to his impressive outing last week in the wild-card series when he fanned nine in six scoreless frames against Cincinnati.
“It doesn’t seem like the moment ever matters to him,” Snitker said. “He just keeps pitching and trusting his stuff.”
The 36-year-old Markakis contributed after Anderson departed.
Corey Dickerson reached on an error by Swanson at shortstop to start the eighth, setting up Markakis’ heads-up play.
Jon Berti followed by slicing a high fly down the line that Markakis alertly plucked on one hop and, with Dickerson holding up to see if the ball would be caught, threw to Swanson for a force-out at second base in a close play.
Miami manager Don Mattingly didn’t fault Dickerson for being thrown out because he said Markakis could’ve dived to catch it.
“Corey’s in a tough spot there, and that ball just kind of bounced right up to (Markakis),” he said.
Will Smith retired the next two batters and Mark Melancon, Atlanta’s fifth pitcher of the game, closed the combined threehitter for a save.