Atlanta Leads 2-0 Over Dodgers in NLCS


ATLANTA – Fate never changes faster than it does in October.

Los Angeles Dodgers co-star Chris Taylor acknowledged that Sunday had slipped into Monday and the Dodgers were lurching toward charter flights from Georgia, where they were looking forward to Monday’s day off. “We are ready to go home.”

Atlanta stepped up the Dodgers’ readiness with timely strikes and clutch shots in the first two games of this National League Championship Series, where neither of the Dodgers had collected.

NL East champions Atlanta won Game 2 just as they did game 1, with a ninth hit and a crazy homecoming. This time it was Dansby Swanson, who raced from second base after Eddie Rosario tattooed a screaming 105 mph in midfield, jumping from Corey Seager’s glove and giving Atlanta a 5-4 win.

The players spilled out of the bunker and attacked Rosario, just as they had done to Austin Riley 24 hours earlier when Riley single-handedly took the game-winning kick of his major league career.

The Dodgers got here three days before they won. NL joker game and then sending the team with the best record in baseball this year, San Francisco, packing in a compartment series.

Now?

“My arm is dead,” said starter Max Scherzer, who appeared for the third time in seven days and the fourth in 12 days. “I could tell he was still tired as he warmed up.”

Taking two hits into the game, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager smashed a two-hit homer. In the fourth episode, however, Scherzer surrendered to ex-Dodger Joc Pederson with a 454-foot, two-run blast to return the lead and make it 2-2.

The Dodgers took another two-row lead in seventh thanks to Chris Taylor’s duo, but then instead of handing things over to a traditional substitute, they opted to bring 20-game winner Julio Urias off the field to start inning eighth. Like Scherzer before him, Urias didn’t have his best gear, and Atlanta ambushed him for three hits and Riley’s two hits to the head of Mookie Betts made the situation 4-4, allowing Ozzie Albies to score from first base.

“I think Julio was the best option we had,” said Manager Dave Roberts, who in this case used Urias instead of Brusdar Graterol, left-handed Justin Bruihl, and the closer Kenley Jansen. He added that Urias should be good to start Game 5 on Wednesday if the match is necessary, despite Sunday’s punches.

Suddenly, surprisingly, the Dodgers are in big trouble. They went 10 to 1 with the runners in the scoring position on Sunday and 18 to 2 in Games 1 and 2. His shots are a mess. They left town in shock.

“It’s no excuse, you don’t take a break throughout the season, but we really didn’t,” said Mookie Betts as she walked down the quiet aisle to the team bus. “One day off. We’re always playing catch. But whatever it is. We signed up for that.”

Betts said it would be wrong to call what happened in Atlanta a disappointment.

“You have to give credit to the kids over there,” he said. “They’re playing really well. It wasn’t. We can’t call it a disappointment. We have to hit it, man. That’s really all.”

Betts talked about how good Atlanta is, and despite the Dodgers winning four of six games against them this summer, it’s not something he should sell the idea to his teammates. Part of what makes these first two games so surprising is that it’s a rematch of last year’s NLCS, where Atlanta took a three-game lead. The Dodgers came out of this hole with three consecutive wins.

That memory stayed fresh when Los Angeles arrived at Truist Field on Saturday. But there’s one more comeback on the return flight home, especially in the pitching state and the clubhouse’s heartbeat in the 2nd, which Justin Turner says is the team’s sore throat.

Taylor said Seager played Rosario’s ball nine out of 10, even considering the sink and spin.

“Nine out of 10 times, but there’s always one,” Betts said. “It’s a tough game. It’s a tough game for everyone. It’s not Seager’s fault.”

Atlanta seemed to neutralize the Los Angeles threat when Swanson pushed a slug toward the bump with a runner first, before two innings. Graterol donned the glove, spun it, and fired into the second row for force. However, the shot bounced and Seager made the sensational choice to prevent the ball from bouncing into midfield. He got the exit.

“They put pressure on us over and over again,” Betts said, “and we finally cracked it.”

It didn’t have to be that way for the Dodgers. Not only did Betts start the game with a single inning and Seager followed homer, but Atlanta’s starting player Ian Anderson swayed and took just 11 innings in his first 26 pitches. With three more base runners in the first, the Dodgers had a chance to pour it on and couldn’t.

“I think everything is physically and mentally exhausting,” Taylor said. “These games take four, five hours. The focus level is slightly different from regular season games. It’s definitely tiring, but it’s what you can expect. Everyone on this team has experience with that.”

He talked about reuniting on Monday and returning to that in Game 3 on Tuesday. One of the Dodgers’ aces, Walker Buehler, is rested and ready.

“We absolutely believe we can win with him,” said Scherzer, who had only four and third innings and 79 fields left on Sunday.

October and its fortunes are changing rapidly. Better for the Dodgers. Because the days are getting shorter.



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