11-spot: Dodgers huge 1st in 15-3 win over Braves in NLCS

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Los Angeles Dodgers were already having a grand time before Max Muncy’s big slam capped the highest-scoring inning in a major league playoff game.

That new ballpark in his home state of Texas where the Dodgers hope to keep playing right through the World Series suddenly doesn’t seem too big anymore, and they are right back in the National League Championship Series after a 15-3 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.

Muncy’s slam off Grant Dayton capped an 11-run first inning when Los Angeles benefitted from a game-starting replay challenge, hit three home runs and had nine consecutive batters reach base after two outs. The Dodgers set franchise post-season records for runs and home runs with five, cutting their NLCS deficit to 2 games to 1.

“It’s pretty cool. Not too many things that are cooler than that,” Muncy said. “But the biggest thing to me is our team got a W and got us back on track.”

Joc Pederson hit a three-run homer off starter Kyle Wright to start his four-hit night, and Edwin Rios went deep on next pitch. Corey Seager had a pair of RBI hits in the opening burst, then added a solo homer in the third as the Dodgers built a 15-0 lead — the first team with that many runs in the first three innings of a post-season game.

Winner Julio Urías, made his first post-season start and improved to 3-0 in these playoffs, striking out five while allowing one run and three hits over five innings. He walked the first two batters but no more.

Atlanta’s miserable start was eerily similar to the Braves’ flop in Game 5 of last year’s Division Series against St. Louis, when they gave up a 10-run first inning at home in a season-ending start by Mike Foltynewicz.

Manager Dave Roberts said Clayton Kershaw will start Game 4 for the Dodgers, two nights after the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner from Dallas was scratched because of back spasms. Bryse Wilson makes his post-season debut as the third rookie right-handed starter for Atlanta in this series in what will be his first appearance since the final day of the regular season on Sept. 27.

“We still are in a good spot with four games left,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Like I say, for the whole team, you just turn the page and get ready to go tomorrow.”

The Dodgers had left the tying run at third base in a four-run bottom of the ninth during an 8-7 loss on Tuesday night. They were the visiting team in Game 3 and sent 14 batters to the plate for seven hits, three walks and a hit batter over 32 minutes in the the 29,786th half-inning in post-season history.

“It was a carryover,” reigning NL MVP Cody Bellinger insisted.

“That was fun to be a part of,” Pederson said. “I think some of the momentum from last night, the last inning definitely carried over and got us feeling a little bit more comfortable at the plate.”

Those 15 runs over two times up came after the Braves had allowed only nine runs in their previous six games plus eight innings, a stretch that included four shutouts en route to a 7-0 post-season start.

Bellinger walked and scored in the first, led off the second with a homer and added an RBI single in the third. His long ball came right after his running, leaping catch at the centre field wall to rob Ozzie Albies with two on to end the Atlanta first.

“It’s not ideal how we started the series, but we feel good about ourselves,” Bellinger said.

Wright gave up seven runs while facing only nine batters. He had had thrown six scoreless innings in the Game 3 NL Division Series clincher over Miami last Thursday.

Mookie Betts had an infield single on the first pitch of the game, though he was initially called out before a replay challenge overturned the call by umpire Dan Iassogna. Seager drove in Betts with a double on the next pitch before groundouts by Justin Turner and Muncy.

“To get that infield hit, and then the next pitch, you see two pitches and you’ve already got a run, that was quite the change,” Roberts said.

Pederson that overturn “got us going, and then from there you saw what happened.”

Nine consecutive batters reached with two outs. Will Smith had an RBI double to make it 2-0, when he just beat a throw to the bag to avoid being the third out before Bellinger’s walk and the homers by Pederson and Rios. After No. 9 batter Chris Taylor drew a free pass, Dayton walked Betts, gave up the the RBI single to Seager and hit Turner on the foot before Muncy’s 435-foot slam to right-centre.

“I just realized that we got all those runs with two outs. Just really good at-bats,” Roberts said. “We hit some homers, took some walks. Just really a well-played inning. I do think last night’s ninth bled over into tonight.”

When Braves No. 9 hitter Cristian Pache finally got to bat leading off the third, the rookie hit his first big league homer — in the regular season or playoffs. All but one Dodgers starter had already batted three times.

Ozzie Albies, who homered in the ninth inning in each of the first two games for Atlanta, this time had to settle in the final frame for a double and scoring the final run on Joahan Camargo’s two-out single.

“At the end of the day it only counts as one game, right? Everybody in the clubhouse knows that,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “Tomorrow we’ll come back and put our best foot forward. … There are things to build on.”

JANSEN IN RELIEF

Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers’ primary closer since 2012 and career leader with 312 saves, pitched a 1-2-3 sixth. It was a week after he needed 30 pitches to get two outs and gave up two runs without being able to finish the 6-5 victory in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Padres.

Roberts, who bypassed Jansen when he went to the bullpen to start the ninth in a 1-1 tie in Game 1 of this series, has avoided being specific about the closer’s role. The 33-year-old Jansen’s velocity had been noticeably down and his control inconsistent.

Jansen threw seven of his 10 pitches for strikes, all but one of them between 88-92 mph. He was averaging 93-94 mph earlier this season.

“Kenley’s still our guy,” Seager said. “You trust him to go out there and get outs. We expect nothing different.”

STREAKING SEAGER

Including his final two at-bats in Game 2 and his first three in Game 3, Seager had a span of producing an RBI in five consecutive plate appearances. That ties Carlos Beltran with the 2004 Houston Astros for the longest such streak in post-season history.

DOUBLE 7s

Wright and Dayton were the second set of teammates to both allow at least seven runs in a post-season game after Cleveland starter Bartolo Colon (seven runs) and Steve Reed (eight runs) in a 23-7 loss to the Boston Red Sox in Game 4 of the 1999 AL Division Series.

DEEP IN TEXAS

The Dodgers, who led the majors with 118 homers in the pandemic-shortened 60-game regular season, had only one homer in their three-game NL Division Series sweep of the Padres last week at the Texas Rangers’ new $1.2 billion ballpark with the retractable roof also open. They have eight through three games of the NLCS, where the World Series will be played.

LOT OF BIG NUMBERS

The 15 runs matched the most in an NLCS game — the Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 15-0 in Game 7 of the 1996 NLCS. … Only the Chicago Cubs, with six in Game 3 of the 2015 NLDS, hit more homers in any post-season game. … The Dodgers’ eight extra-base hits matched the franchise record for a post-season game, and their 18 total bases in the first were an MLB record for an inning. … Only three other teams have had five different players homer in a playoff game. … Atlanta was the only team in the majors with an 11-run inning during the regular season.

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Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press