Yamamoto Makes Two Fourth-Inning Homers Enough in Atlanta

Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave Atlanta seven innings with little room to score, and the Dodgers supplied all the offense they needed in the fourth. Enrique Hernández hit a two-run homer, Freddie Freeman followed with a solo shot, and Los Angeles won NLDS Game 3 by 3–1 on October 6.

The victory put the Dodgers ahead 2–1 in the best-of-five series, one win from advancement. Atlanta's next defeat would end its season. The immediate advantage came from a game in which both teams struck out 12 times, but Los Angeles converted its main contact into two home runs while the Braves scored through one productive groundout.

Yamamoto allowed one run on four hits and one walk over seven innings, striking out 10 and throwing 98 pitches. The long start kept the Dodgers from needing a large relief workload and gave their three-run fourth inning a chance to remain sufficient through the end.

Two swings in the fourth

The game stayed scoreless until Hernández homered to left with Andy Pages aboard. The Dodgers led 2–0. Freeman then homered to right-center, extending the advantage to three before Atlanta had scored.

Hernández finished with one hit and two RBIs. Freeman had one hit, a walk and an RBI. Their scoring value came entirely through the home runs, which converted Los Angeles' fourth-inning opportunity into all three runs rather than leaving another runner needing a later hit.

Pages finished with two hits and a run. Mookie Betts also recorded two hits, while Will Smith and Kyle Tucker added one each. The Dodgers had eight hits in total, but their scoring was concentrated in the fourth rather than built through repeated run-producing innings.

Chris Sale allowed three runs on seven hits over five innings for Atlanta. He did not walk a batter and struck out seven, throwing 95 pitches. The lack of walks meant Los Angeles had to produce contact to build its offense. The Dodgers did, and the two homers made that contact count immediately.

Sale's strikeout total did not prevent the fourth-inning change. He could remove hitters without allowing the ball in play, but Hernández and Freeman supplied the swings that decided the margin. Atlanta needed its offense to recover three runs after that inning, and Yamamoto kept the task from becoming easier.

The Braves score once

Drake Baldwin's fifth-inning groundout scored Mauricio Dubón, cutting Atlanta's deficit to 3–1. Lane Thomas moved to third and Brewer Hicklen to second, leaving the Braves with additional runners positioned to score. They did not collect another run from the opportunity.

That sequence explains both what Atlanta accomplished and what it lacked. A productive out turned a baserunner into a run, but the remaining scoring position required another successful play. The Braves could not supply it against Yamamoto.

Atlanta finished with five hits and two walks. Albies doubled, and Harris, Dubón, Olson and Thomas each singled. No Braves hitter had more than one hit, and their offense never created another scoring inning after the fifth.

Yamamoto's four-hit, one-walk line over seven innings limited how often Atlanta could put together consecutive threats. His 10 strikeouts accounted for nearly half the 21 outs he obtained. The Braves had to convert the remaining contact efficiently because there were relatively few other routes onto the bases.

The relief work protects the score

Tanner Scott pitched a scoreless inning for Los Angeles, striking out two and walking one. Edwin Díaz completed another scoreless inning, allowing one hit without a walk. The Dodgers' bullpen kept the 3–1 margin intact after Yamamoto had covered most of the game.

Atlanta's bullpen also did its job after Sale left. Dylan Dodd, Dylan Lee, Brent Suter and Raisel Iglesias each supplied a scoreless inning. Together they allowed one hit and two walks, preventing Los Angeles from adding further insurance.

Those clean innings kept Atlanta's potential comeback within two runs. They did not produce the contact needed to complete it. The game therefore remained a three-run fourth inning against a one-run fifth, with both pitching staffs closing the remaining scoring routes.

The difference between the starters

Both Sale and Yamamoto struck out hitters, but Yamamoto worked two additional innings and allowed only one run. That reduced the Dodgers' need for relief pitching while leaving Atlanta with less offensive production to support its later scoreless bullpen work.

The result moved Los Angeles within one victory of the NLCS without settling that next game. The Dodgers' advantage was earned through a clear combination: Pages reached ahead of Hernández's homer, Freeman supplied an additional solo shot, and Yamamoto prevented Atlanta from creating the comparable scoring inning.

The Braves kept Los Angeles from adding on after the fourth. The Dodgers kept Atlanta from catching up after the fifth. Yamamoto's seven innings made the latter job manageable, and the two home runs made it enough.