On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers were within five outs of going down 0-3 to the Atlanta Braves in the best-of-seven of the NLCS. The game seemed lost as the Dodgers were about to fall into the abyss known as a 3-0 series deficit.
Then out of a sudden, in the eighth inning, Cody Bellinger gave new life to the Dodgers’ season with a three-run homer against Luke Jackson that tied the game 5-5. One out later, Mookie Betts doubled home Chris Taylor to give the Dodgers a 6-5 lead that would stand as the final score of the game.
“In the moment, it’s loud and you don’t really hear anything and you don’t really see anything,” Bellinger said. “Rounding second, I saw the boys in the dugout giving me the celebration, so I had to do it back. Just pure joy and just glad I could tie up the game right there to give us a chance.”
Bellinger’s series-altering three-run homer came on a 96-mph fastball that was well above the zone. Instead of taking the pitch for ball two, Bellinger sent it flying 399 feet to right-center, and in doing so, he erased a 5-2 deficit with one swing.
“We were dead in the water,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
After Taylor singled and stole second against Jesse Chavez, Betts delivered the knockout punch with a shot into the right-center gap. Taylor’s stolen base became a larger problem for the Braves as the ensuing batter, Matt Beaty, hit a grounder that could have otherwise been an inning-ending double play.
“That stolen base right there is huge,” Betts said. “It got other guys up to the plate and gave us two more chances instead of one.”
The Dodgers have an outstanding record of 13 for 13 in stolen bases this postseason ─ no other team has more than seven steals this October ─ and they’re the first team with multiple stolen bases in four straight postseason games since the 1995 Mariners.
Even though game three was an ugly loss for the Braves, they still have a 2-1 series lead against the Dodgers. Historically, teams with a 2-1 lead in a best-of-seven have gone on to win the series 70 percent of the time. The odds are still in the Braves’ favor; however, if Tuesday’s game is indicative of something it’s that the Dodgers still have some fight in them.
The next two games will be played in Dodger Stadium, and the Braves have lost 11 of their last 12 games in Chavez Ravine.
