Who doesn’t love a good redemption story?
Tonight, the Home Nine delivered a pair of them, as Ha-Seong Kim and Sean Murphy – two guys who entered this contest a combined .092 (11 for 120) – teamed up in a big way to help Atlanta top the NL-West leading Los Angeles Dodgers for the second straight night, again in dramatic fashion. Kim’s 2-out, pinch-hit, walk-off single off Tanner Scott in the 9th tagged the L.A. reliever with his second loss to Atlanta in 24 hours.
In winning 6-5 tonight, the Braves have now taken 4 of 5 games from the Dodgers in ’26, winning the season series with tomorrow night’s game left. That, of course, gives the Braves the tiebreaker, if they happen to finish with the same record as L.A. And that could be the difference between a first-round bye and a short series vs., say, the Diamondbacks or the Padres. I’ll take the bye, thanks.
The Game: Call me crazy, but I just like Roki Sasaki. I mean, what a cool name for a pitcher. Apparently, he pronounces his name Roe-key, but I prefer Rocky (as in rock-n-roll great Roky Erickson of The 13th Floor Elevators) because it just sounds better. Rocky Sasaki. (Unfortunately for Roki, things really didn’t go his way tonight, as he left the game with a sudden blister on his finger, which will cause him to miss at least one start.)
Like last night, the Braves jumped out quickly. In the 1st, Matt Olson mortally mashed an inside slider, ringing it off the RF foul pole for a solo shot – 1-0 ATL. The Dodgers answered in the 2nd with an RBI single from catcher Hunter Feduccia. They took the lead in the 3rd on a 2-run HR from 2B Tommy Edman – 3-1 LA.
The Braves came back with a big inning in the 4th. After a walk and a steal from Ozzie, Yaz blooped a single to CF & Riley hit an RBI sac fly to make it a one-run game. Sean Murphy then powered a double into the RCF gap – one in, two on, one out.
At that point, Sasaki exited the game with his blister issue, so Dodger skipper Dave Roberts brought in reliever Edgardo Henriquez. Right away, Drake lofted a deep drive to the LF corner. Lucky for Atlanta, Teoscar Hernandez did a Timmy Lupus-on-rollerskates imitation as he overran the fly, the ball ticking his glove & dropping in for a 2-run “double.” Just like that, it’s 4-3 ATL. AJSS held ‘em in the 5th, and Dylan Dodd tossed a goose egg the 6th. (It should be noted that AJSS offered another OK start. He went 5 IP & kept us in the game, so I’ll take that as a good thing.)
Bottom 6th, Murphy officially rose from his coffin – at least I hope so. Coming into the game riding the interstate to the tune of a .136 batting average, he followed up his previous EBH by scorching an ultra-flat cutter from LHP Eric Lauer over the LCF fence – his first HR this season. (And does Murphy ever fly out of his own heels when he swings the bat.) The 6th got further interesting when Drake and Olson worked walks off the lefty. But with 2 outs, Dubón fouled off 9 pitches before flying out to right on the 14th pitch he saw.
Enter Dylan Lee, who might’ve had his very worst outing of the year. On his first pitch, Ohtani lined one off the RF chalk and it bounced off the wall straight to RAJ. Ohtani awkwardly rounded first and, after picking up the ball, RAJ just stopped frozen, looking as if he intended to throw behind Ohtani. Stuck between stations for a moment, Ohtani quickly jetted to second, sliding in easily. Why RAJ didn’t just immediately throw the ball to 2nd is a mystery. Bad start.
Didn’t help because Freddie lined the very next pitch into LF for a single, putting runners on the corners. Betts followed with another & suddenly it’s 5-4. A walk to Muncy loaded ’em up w/ no outs. Exit Dylan Lee.
WW brought in Didier Fuentes, who interestingly started Tommy Edman with a slider & a curve. Unfortunately, he lost him on a 3-2 count – tie game. Just as the inning was starting to swirl overhead like an April tornado cloud, Fuentes slammed the door by getting a shallow F7 from Kyle Tucker and a 4-6-3 DP from Alek Thomas.
The Dodgers rose up again in the 8th by loading the bases with 2 outs on Fuentes, who walked two, one intentionally. After Muncy fouled off a diet of heaters, Fuentes whiffed him on a 3-2 splitter that was out of the zone. It was stout effort from Fuentes who conquered a pair of nerve-wracking situations tonight.
Murphy led off the 8th with an infield single, a swinging bunt that rolled until it hit the 3B bag, completing a 3-for-4 night – he’s up to .188. After pinch-runner Brewer Hicklen took first, Drake banged one off the RF bricks for a double. That’s a 3-for-4 night for Drake, as well… and 2 on with nobody out. Unfortunately, RAJ’s squibber to first didn’t advance anyone & the Dodgers gave Olson a pass to load ’em up. Then, in one of the luckiest double-plays you’ll ever see, SS Mookie Betts booted Dubón’s grounder straight to a waiting Edman at 2B, who relayed to first, ending the inning.
In the 9th, Victor Mederos was indeed magnificent, as he faced the minimum and, after whiffing Alek Thomas to end the inning, he stomped off the mound like a wound-up professional wrestler. As long as you get ’em out, Vic…
In the 9th, Tanner Scott retired the first 2 Braves hitters, then Lane Thomas laced a 2-out double to right. After an IBB to Riley, up stepped one H.S. Kim, a pinch-hitter who was 5 for 76 for the season. Time for redemption? Damn straight…
After fouling off three straight 4-seamers, Kim lined the next one into left field for a single, scoring Thomas and giving the Braves another sweet, satisfying win over the Dodgers. As the Phils won in Seattle earlier, the Braves maintained its 4.5 game lead in the NL East.
Tomorrow night (7:15 pm) offers another righteous mound matchup, as Atlanta sends Chris Sale (12-9, 2.20 ERA) out to battle L.A.’s World Series hero Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-7, 2.61). Let’s sweep ’em.
Thanks ububba, fantastic recap! What a game. I am feeling real happy for Kim and Murphy. Play-off atmosphere in August. Go Braves!
Great recap and a wild-game. It definitely had a play-off feel in August. It would be nice to give Sale some run-support and sweep these bums, but even if not, winning the season series against the Dodgers is quite the achievement. Now just don’t throw it all away agains the Rockies!
Thanks, ububba. Great baseball.
Everyone gets so focused on the playoffs, naturally, and everyone agrees that the season is V-E-R-Y long, and most people understand than stretches of winning and losing come to every team, but every once in awhile it behooves you to sit back and marvel at a remarkable stretch of regular season baseball that’s been great to watch, even though the team’s record over that stretch is pedestrian and even though the playoff implications, while real, are not huge. Over their last 10 games the Braves are 5-5, but every game has been good, tense, interesting baseball against pretty good (and occasionally great) opponents. I wanted to celebrate this now in case tonight’s game is uninteresting for whatever reason.
Because there’s so much focus on the postseason, and because there’s a lot of randomness in postseason outcomes, I would like to see more emphasis be given to having the best regular-season record in each league. Not in the sense of giving those teams more advantages in the playoffs, but as a separate goal to aim for & take pride in. MLS does this with the Supporter’s Shield trophy given to the team with the best regular-season record regardless of how the team does in the playoffs. (I think that’s a nod to most soccer leagues worldwide not having playoffs and just crowning the best regular-season team as the champion.) I think of the Giants team that won 108 a few years ago, or the Seattle team that won something like 116, and think those teams and their fans should take more satisfaction in their performance during the season, and a trophy that people cared about would help do that.
As it is, most of the top teams just spend September resting up & preparing for the postseason and trying to finish at least second in their leagues to get byes. Per ESPN, even before we start September, 5 NL teams have a 93% (Philadelphia) or better chance of making the postseason, so the only real question is whether the Braves can catch LA or Milwaukee for one of the top two spots, as even if the Phillies beat the Braves, they won’t get a bye either. So it would add some drama to have two races for meaningful trophies, maybe named after two recent HOF players each of whom spent their whole career in one league & ideally won several pennants.
Yes, totally agree. Great baseball and the Braves were, more or less, in every game.
Nice thought jamesd, but the NHL has the President’s Trophy, and nobody cares. Indeed, the President’s Trophy is stupidly treated as a curse, since only 20% of President’s Trophy recipients have won the Stanley Cup, even though that’s more that’s substantially in excess of the average probability, which is a little over 4 percent. That’s similar to the fraction of the best MLB records to win the World Series, and baseball fans as a whole are probably no better in thinking probabilistically than hockey fans.
This was the kind of game that, seen at the right age, can make a young person a a Braves fan for life.
Boy was it long, though! It was like a pre-pitch clock game.
Last night’s game was 3h-17m, which is about 33 minutes longer than the average 2026 contest.
Lotsa long counts & there seemed to be a million 2-strike foul balls, which added to the playoff-like tension, of course.
And the 7th & 8th innings with Fuentes on the mound were pretty wrenching. His bases-loaded battle with Muncy was awesome.
There was also the delay for the pitcher injury change.
Can I get a pinch hitter for the recap of tonight’s game? I seriously re injured my back and I don’t think I want to try writing after I take the pain meds.
Gotcha. Feel better.
Oh no! We’ll miss you. Get well soon!
I agree completely with JonathanF about the exciting games lately and about regular season baseball generally. These first two against the Dodgers were just terrific games to watch. So many great moments and game turning plays. And then the redemption for Kim and Murphy was just very satisfying. Even though the outcome of these games doesn’t affect playoff odds very much, the intensity from players, fans, and the announcers was quite real.
Sale looks terrific so far. 100 mph heater as a 37 year old.
This is one more game worth celebrating— good, tense, interesting baseball as JonathanF put it. And Chris Sale is worth the price of admission by himself.
What a game! If you don’t enjoy this you don’t like baseball.
Folks, that’s what an ace looks like.
What Sale is doing tonight is what I dream about him doing in October.
Hang on, fellas.
HS Kim just hit a foul ball at 112 mph in the 9th. That’s harder than any (recorded) ball he’s hit since 2021. dunno how significant that is, but 112 is serious.
Day-am… Chris Sale is somethin’… 9 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 11 K, 0 BB.
That was a helluva fun 3-game series.
“You threw a pitch over 100 miles an hour for the first time in eight years. How?”
“With my arm.”
And then he gives a shoutout to a Braves fan who passed away at the young age of 42.
Man, we are lucky to have Chris Sale. Gotta get him a ring and the Charlie Morton “stay as long as you’d like” contract situation.
OK, we’re up 5 games. So, after the Twin Cities debacle, that’s 5-2 vs. the three 1st place teams (CWS, MIL, LAD).
Now we play 6 games vs. 3 clubs (Col, SF, Wash) that are a combined 55 games under .500 before we head to Philly for 4. (Phils play 6 @ LAA & Az.)
Recapped