The NLDS is suddenly a knotted mess after the Braves snagged a gritty 3-2 victory in Game 2, pushing the series to 1-1. This was supposed to be a home game where the Dodgers took control, but instead, their bats went cold and their starting pitching struggled, making it a frustrating night at Dodger Stadium.
Snell’s Shocker on the Mound
Blake Snell’s start was a wild ride from the jump. Dude threw 27 pitches in the very first inning, giving up two singles and two walks, allowing an early run before finally striking out Sean Murphy to escape the jam. How he left that inning with only one run against him was nothing short of a minor miracle, honestly. He allowed more two-out baserunners in the second and third, but again, somehow got out of it clean. But the wheels started to really wobble in the fourth with two more walks. That put his total at a season-high five walks, the most he’s issued in a start since he walked six way back on August 24, 2024, when he was with the San Francisco Giants. All that traffic meant Snell needed 90 pitches to get just 11 outs, throwing nearly as many balls (43) as strikes (47). Talk about inefficient, right?
The Bullpen Takes Over, For Better Or Worse
When Blake Snell got pulled, Brock Stewart had to come in cold to get the final out of the fourth, stranding Snell’s runners. That’s when this game unexpectedly turned into a full-blown bullpen affair for the Dodgers. Left-hander Kris Bubic, a former All-Star starter picked up at the trade deadline while he was on the 60-day injured list, has been pitching in relief through his rehab and into the majors because the team needed him there. It had been working pretty swimmingly too, through six rehab outings in Triple-A and five games with the Dodgers down the stretch. But in his 12th organizational appearance to start the fifth inning, Bubic got the first two outs before Michael Harris II smoked a ball into the left field corner. Teoscar Hernández played it into a triple, which was the first extra-base hit Bubic had allowed in those 12 games, covering 43 batters faced. And get this: nobody had scored against Bubic in 11 innings until that moment. Then he uncorked a wild pitch that let Harris scamper home with the go-ahead run. Just like that, the Braves were up, and you could feel the air go out of the stadium.
Bats Go Silent Against Atlanta’s Pen
The Dodgers offense could only muster two runs against six different Braves pitchers, which is just brutal in a playoff game. It felt like déjà vu, too, because for the second straight game, they failed to score against the first pitcher in a Braves bullpen game. After Dylan Dodd shut them down for three scoreless innings in Game 1, Ray Kerr, another southpaw, got the first eight outs on Sunday and kept the Dodgers off the board. Miguel Rojas, who’s been hitting great against left-handers this season with a .293/.240/.469 line and a 121 wRC+, started at third base and delivered with a leadoff double off Kerr in the third. But that promising rally got absolutely neutered when Tommy Edman, a switch-hitter with a career 118 wRC+ against lefties, tried to bunt for some reason and popped out to Austin Riley at third. What was that call?
So, the series is knotted at one game apiece, and the Dodgers are heading into the next one having to rethink their pitching strategy and hoping their bats can actually show up. This team needs to figure out how to put runs on the board and get some length from their starters if they want to make it out of this series.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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