Wait continues
Braves’ party on hold as Ozuna’s mishap opens door for Dodgers
ARLINGTON, Texas — Marcell Ozuna and the Braves got a little ahead of themselves.
Now they’ll have to wait at least another day for the franchise’s first World Series in 20 years.
Ozuna left early on what would have been a sacrifice fly with his team leading in the third inning, and the game soon turned as the Dodgers stayed alive in the NL Championship Series with a 7-3 victory in Game 5 on Friday night.
The Braves still have a 3-2 series lead after a bullpen game that started well but went awry, with their top two starters lined up for the final two games. Left-hander Max Fried pitches for the NL East champions on Saturday.
“Hopefully he can go seven innings [Saturday], eight innings,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Our team right now, this is the guy who we want.”
A night after hitting two homers in a 10-2 win, Ozuna started off the bag at third base when Dansby Swanson hit a liner to right field with the Braves already off to a 2-0 lead.
Realizing Mookie Betts had a chance to make the catch, Ozuna retreated to the base, but still pulled his foot off too soon as Betts made a running, lunging catch just above his shoe tops.
Betts struggled to get the ball out of his glove as he was running toward the plate, and his offbalance throw was late as Ozuna slid headfirst at home. But third baseman Justin Turner was already standing at third waving his arms, and several Dodgers in the dugout had noticed as well.
The Dodgers didn’t have to appeal because the play went to review, and the ruling of a sacrifice fly and 3-0 Braves lead was changed to an inning-ending double play.
“That didn’t help,” Snitker said. “We had a couple of opportunities. Couldn’t kind of keep things rolling offensively.”
The Dodgers got rolling offensively, with Corey Seager leading off the fourth with a home run. The Dodgers went ahead for good in the sixth on Will Smith’s three-run shot off the Braves reliever of the same name.
The Braves’ A.J. Minter became the first pitcher to make his first career start in the postseason, and now is the only starter or reliever in postseason history with seven strikeouts in three or fewer innings. The left-hander allowed one hit.
Minter was replaced by Tyler Matzek, who two years ago was pitching for an independent league team in a nearly empty stadium just a few miles from Globe Life Field, where the firstever neutral-site NLCS is being played at the home of the Rangers.
This crowd wasn’t what it could have been, with another pandemic-reduced total of about 11,000 in the first setting with fans this season. They ended up getting a pumpkin instead of a fairy tale October story.
Matzek surrendered Seager’s homer, and two innings later Atlanta’s Smith walked the first hitter he faced, Max Muncy, with two outs, forcing the lefty and losing pitcher to face LA’s Smith, a right-handed hitter. The Dodgers catcher hit a 3-2 fastball 404 feet into the seats in left.
The three-batter minimum wasn’t a factor for Snitker with his Smith, who didn’t allow a hit or walk in his first five appearances this postseason but has walked three and allowed three runs in the last two games in this series.
“I’ve got every confidence in him,” Snitker said. “He has been so good and he’s so reliable. He wants the ball. It happens.”