The Dodgers were limited to one baserunner over the final four innings and were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position as the Atlanta Braves tied their National League Division Series at one game a piece with a 3-2 victory Sunday evening at Dodger Stadium.
Game 3 of the best-of-five series is set for Tuesday in Cumberland, Georgia.
The Dodgers had runners on first and second with no outs in the fifth, trailing 2-1, when Robert Suarez relieved Dylan Lee and retired the next three batters.
Didier Fuentes took the mound for the Braves to start the bottom of the sixth and retired the first 11 batters he faced, striking out three, until Max Muncy hit his 3-2 four-seam fastball an estimated 397 feet over the right center field fence with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Raisel Iglesias relieved Fuentes and induced rookie pinch-hitter Josue De Paula to foul out to third baseman Austin Riley to end the game.
Atlanta took the lead for good in the fifth inning when Michael Harris II tripled with two outs and scored three pitches later when Kris Bubic’s 84.3 mph sweeper went off the mitt of catcher Will Smith for a wild pitch.
The Braves added an insurance run in the seventh when Harris’ two-out double drove in Matt Olson who had singled with one out.
Atlanta took its first lead of the series in the first. Ronald Acuña singled off Blake Snell with one out and stole second. The Braves loaded the bases on back-to-back walks to Olson and Ozzie Albies. Harris II fouled out to third baseman Miguel Rojas for the second out.
Acuña scored on Mauricio Dubón’s single in front of a crowd announced at 50,729.
The Dodgers tied the score when Freddie Freeman hit a 2-2 slider from Grant Holmes an estimated 375 feet into the right field pavilion leading off the bottom of the fourth.
Both teams had six hits. Harris had three hits. Freeman went 2-for-4 with a second-inning single to be the only Dodger with multiple hits.
The Dodgers left seven runners on base, the Braves 11.
Atlanta was 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
All seven Dodger runs in the series have come on home runs.
Dodger starter Blake Snell was relieved by Brock Stewart after pitching 3 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits, walking five and striking out five.
Manager Dave Roberts said the left groin tightness Snell suffered on Sept. 16 was not a factor in his short stint Sunday.
“He just was fighting himself with his delivery all game,” Roberts said. “I think the fastball was really good. The change-up was good at times. I think in total didn’t have fastball command, didn’t have slider command, and the change-up wasn’t there. He was pulling it.
“I think that just overall it wasn’t the groin. He just wasn’t sharp tonight.”
Shohei Ohtani was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts Sunday after going 1-for-4 in Saturday’s 5-3 victory in Game 1
“If you look at the at-bats, there’s a lot of chase,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to square up, put good swings on balls that are out of the zone. That’s kind of what it boils down to.
“I haven’t heard anything other than he feels fine. So I don’t know if he’s trying to do too much because he doesn’t feel perfect. This time of year … no one feels perfect. He’s doing the best he can.
“He’ll be in there Game 3, and we’ve just got to, again, take good at-bats and expect the best.”
The victory “kind of instills some confidence in us and gives us some momentum going back to Atlanta as well,” Braves designated hitter Drake Baldwin said.
The temperature was 95 degrees when Snell threw the game’s first pitch at 5:03 p.m., the Dodgers announced.