ATLANTA — The plot thickened for the Dodgers on Sunday night, along with the first act of Ronald Acuña Jr.’s long-running play.
The possible National League Rookie of the Year hit a grand slam in the second inning of Division Series Game 4, and after the Dodgers powered their way back to a tie, Freddie Freeman’s solo shot off Alex Wood gave the Braves a 6-5 victory.
“It was the biggest game of our lives,” Freeman said. “We were 5-0 and then they tied it, which wasn’t ideal. But we’ve been doing it like this all year.”
The Dodgers left runners hanging in scoring position in the sixth, eighth and ninth, showing why they were a .500 club in one-run games this year.
Milwaukee is already in the National League Championship Series, beginning Friday there. The Dodgers lead this series, 2-1, but were hoping to check this box as soon as possible. They will start Rich Hill in Monday’s Game 4 against Mike Foltynecwicz, who lasted only two innings in Game 1 on Thursday
The Dodgers were aiming their most lethal weapon at the Braves. Walker Buehler had a 2.03 ERA after the All-Star break and, for the season, had a 0.92 WHIP. That was the lowest for a rookie pitcher since 1913.
The Braves responded with Sean Newcomb, who was 12-9 in his first full season and had no reason to fear the Dodgers.
On July 29 Newcomb needed only 2 hours, 47 minutes to dominate them. The Dodgers had won the previous three games, but did not get a hit off the left-hander until Chris Taylor’s single on a 2-and-2 pitch with two out in the ninth.
Newcomb was perfect that day until he walked Yasiel Puig in the sixth. He also delivered 134 pitches, which may or may not explain why Newcomb was 2-4 the rest of the season and his ERA jumped from 3.23 to 3.90.
The Angels made him the 15th pick of the 2014 draft, and he quickly became their only player in Baseball America’s top 100 minor league rankings.
But new Angels general manager Billy Eppler dealt Newcomb, shortstop Erick Aybar and pitcher Chris Ellis to the Braves for shortstop Andrelton Simmons and catcher Jose Briceno.
Newcomb and Buehler did their thing for an inning and a half, with Buehler downing the Braves in only five pitches in the first.
Then the guardrails came off.
First, home plate began moving alarmingly on Buehler, although the strict interpretations of home umpire Gary Cederstrom didn’t help. Buehler walked Nick Markakis, who got to third when Ozzie Albies singled with two out and center fielder Cody Bellinger made an error. The Dodgers intentionally walked Charlie Culberson to get to Newcomb, who was a grand 3 for 72 for his career at the plate.
It didn’t matter. Buehler walked him on four pitches, and Markakis came home with the first Braves run in the 19 and two-thirds innings of the series.
The next four runs were a little more sudden. Acuña took three balls, thought he’d gotten a fourth and took a premature step to first, then settled on a 98 mph, 3-and-1 fastball that he blasted into the left-field seats.
At 20, he became the youngest player to hit a slam in the postseason. The previous youngest was Mickey Mantle in the 1953 World Series.
The Dodgers began scrubbing away that lead in the third inning when Kiké Hernandez battled for a leadoff walk. A two-out walk to Taylor was the end of the line for Newcomb, who had pitched two innings in Game 1.
Kevin Gausman’s arrival was greeted by Justin Turner’s base hit, which became a two-run play when left fielder Acuña let the ball skip past.
As Buehler stabilized, the Dodgers pushed. Another leadoff walk, this to Yasmani Grandal in the fifth, set up Taylor for a two-run, one-out homer that made it 5-4. Gausman left in favor of lefty Max Fried, who left a 2-and-2 curveball high to Max Muncy, who swatted it out to right field for a tie game.
The Dodgers loomed again in the sixth when Matt Kemp bounced a double over the left-field wall and was at third when Hernandez came up with one out. The Braves played the infield in, and shortstop Charlie Culberson fired home to get Kemp on the contact play.
But rookie Touki Touissant walked Grandal and pinch-hitter Yasiel Puig to load the bases. The Braves survived when Taylor bounced out to third base.
That ended the night for Buehler, who had mowed down 10 consecutive Braves after Acuña’s blast. Reliever Alex Wood threw one pitch and it landed in the right-field seats, just in front of a steakhouse, after it made an intermediate stop against the bat of Freddie Freeman. That put the Braves up 6-5, which, as unlikely as it seemed, is where it stood.