ATLANTA —Dave Roberts saw an opportunity to provide reassurance on Sunday. The Los Angeles Dodgers manager had already assembled his club for an afternoon meeting as part of Roberto Clemente Day.
Roberts’ team has slipped. The Dodgers’ grip on another division crown is loosening. For a week now, they’ve played sloppy baseball. They’ve stood on land mines and lost reinforcements. A decimated Braves club battered them over the first two nights in Atlanta.
But this gathering was not intended as a dressing down.
“I just wanted to let them know that we’ve been through a lot of stuff together,” Roberts said, “and I just wanted to let them know that I believe in this group and just keep playing good baseball.”
When the tide turned, it came quickly. Dodgers 9, Braves 2 pushed air into the room hours after Roberts’ message. The Dodgers also hope it’s a blueprint: pitching well enough to allow an explosive offense the chance to come alive.
The Dodgers won, 9-2. They are 88-61. The division lead is 3.5 games, and the lead for the bye is 2 games.
The bats came alive in the ninth in a big way.
Time of game: 2:42.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) September 16, 2024
It has been an ugly weekend in The Battery. The Dodgers lost Tyler Glasnow for the season before this series and struggled to find much in the form of pitching answers. Landon Knack, who has pitched his way into the discussion for a postseason spot, lasted just two innings Friday. Jack Flaherty lasted just three Saturday in his worst start since being acquired at the trade deadline.
Walker Buehler tiptoed toward a similar fate on Sunday night. He walked three batters in a 31-pitch third inning, allowing a run without giving up a hit while failing to put away either Marcell Ozuna or Matt Olson after getting each to a full count. He teetered with the bases loaded when Jarred Kelenic lined a ball to right, where it settled into Mookie Betts’ glove.
Buehler settled down. For the first time since May, he completed six innings, doing so while allowing just two runs (one earned).
“That’s his pedigree,” Roberts said. “That’s who he is and that’s who we need him to be.”
Buehler, at this point, is pitching for everything. Despite a 5.54 ERA, he remains in contention to start a playoff game next month. Free agency follows. More than anything, Buehler has been trying to find himself after a second Tommy John surgery. This is not playing out the string.
These are not playoff games “but for me, it kind of feels like that at this point,” Buehler said.
His positive night opened the door for the catharsis. Shohei Ohtani twice found the right-field corner to drive in runs. Will Smith hit a ball that bounced off the top of the brick wall at Truist Park and somehow managed to stay in the ballpark. When Ohtani was intentionally walked in front of him, Betts poked one through a hole to break a 2-2 tie. Freddie Freeman followed with a run-scoring single that trickled under Kelenic’s glove in left. Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman and Max Muncy combined for the third instance of back-to-back-to-back home runs in the span of less than a month.
“I don’t want to say it was the biggest win of the year but it felt big,” Roberts said Sunday night, “just considering what we’ve been going through.”
The stakes remain high. A win Sunday allowed the Dodgers to maintain a 3 1/2 game lead over the San Diego Padres for the NL West with 13 games remaining. After a Milwaukee Brewers loss in Arizona, the Dodgers’ two-game grasp of a much-needed first-round bye remains just as important.
More than anything, for the Dodgers to get anywhere once they finally limp into October, they’ll need to show the type of firepower they demonstrate on nights like these.
“It lets us know we can do it,” Betts said.
That ability seems obvious given the trio of MVPs that headline the top three spots in this batting order. But the Dodgers managed to push across just five runs in the series before the ninth inning Sunday. Facing one of the most effective relievers in baseball, Raisel Iglesias, they broke through.
Smith tripled off the top of the wall, continuing a resurgent week at the plate in a game where he didn’t even start (Smith entered in the fifth for Austin Barnes, who is expected to land on the injured list after reinjuring his left big toe on a foul ball). When Andy Pages grounded out without pushing Smith across, Braves manager Brian Snitker became the second opposing manager this month to intentionally walk Ohtani in front of Betts. Two weeks ago, Betts punished Angels manager Ron Washington with a home run. This time, Betts smacked a go-ahead single up the middle.
“I mean, I wouldn’t pitch to him either,” Betts said. “So fortunately I’ve been able to come through.”
Seven runs came across before the inning was done. Hernández, Edman and Muncy each sent baseballs into the seats, sending the Dodgers bench scrambling to fire off sunflower seeds.
“Any time you break through, it’s a sigh of relief,” Betts said. “It’s hard to keep confidence. But I think we’ve done a really good job in really staying confident and knowing that we can do it, keeping the pressure on until we do break through.”
For the night, the Dodgers found a version of themselves that can win games in October. One that Roberts tried to remind them was still in there, even as a crush of pitching injuries has whittled down their high-priced roster.
“Telling us we’re still good,” Betts said of Roberts’ message. “Just instilling us to keep fighting, keep fighting and things will turn eventually.”
Sunday night, they did in a hurry.
“I just think there are certain times in a season that it’s a good reminder for the guys to know how good they are, but you also have to play like it, too,” Roberts said.
(Photo of Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernandez: Dale Zanine / USA Today)
