Despite all the injuries to their pitching staff and questions about their roster depth, the Dodgers still believe.
That they can finish off a division title in the National League West.
That they can mount a deep, albeit unconventional, October run.
That, as manager Dave Roberts declared, “the talent we have, the character we have, is plenty to win the World Series.”
If so, they’ll need more performances like Sunday’s 9-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
After entering the night with losses in six of their previous nine games, and an NL West lead that had been trimmed to three games by the surging San Diego Padres, the Dodgers put all the pieces together in a much-needed win at Truist Park.
Walker Buehler battled through early command issues to pitch six strong innings in one of his best performances of the season.
The lineup erased an early two-run deficit, showing the kind of fight that has been missing at times in recent weeks.
Then, with the score tied 2-2 in the ninth, their superstar bats erupted for a seven-run rally — one that started with an RBI single from Mookie Betts, then included three-straight home runs from Teoscar Hernández, Tommy Edman and Max Muncy.
It was a sigh of relief, a flurry of exaltation and a potential postseason statement, wrapped up into one potentially momentum-turning victory.
The Dodgers’ seven-run ninth was initially sparked by one of their coldest hitters, with Will Smith hitting a deep fly ball that bounced off the top of the tall brick wall in right-center for a leadoff triple.
Two batters later, the Braves faced a decision: Let right-handed closer Raisel Iglesias pitch to Shohei Ohtani? Or intentionally walk the left-handed hitting, most valuable player front-runner to face Betts instead.
Braves manager Brian Snitker chose the latter.
And, just as Betts did in a similar situation against the Angels earlier this month, he immediately made Atlanta pay.
On the third pitch of his at-bat, Betts hammered a center-cut fastball through the infield for an RBI single, giving the Dodgers their first lead of this weekend’s series.
Former Braves star Freddie Freeman quickly added some insurance, lining a single to left that scored two runs after Jarred Kelenic misplayed the ball.
From there, the Dodgers (88-61) took out their frustrations from the last couple days — including Saturday’s news that ace pitcher Tyler Glasnow will likely miss the rest of the season with a sprained elbow — in explosive fashion.
Hernández hammered his 29th home run of the season to left. Muncy and Edman followed with solo blasts that gave the Dodgers their third set of back-to-back-to-back home runs this month.
If not for Buehler’s effort earlier in the night, it all might not have happened.
Buehler almost came unraveled in a 31-pitch, two-run third inning — one in which the Dodgers’ recently sloppy defense gave him little help.
The Braves loaded the bases with one out, sandwiching a couple walks around a catcher’s interference call on Austin Barnes (who later left the game with a contusion to the same left big toe he broke last month).
Another walk to Matt Olson, after Buehler had been ahead 0-and-2 in the count, plated the night’s first run.
In the next at-bat, Buehler induced a slow grounder from Travis d’Arnaud. But on what would have been a tricky double play, the Dodgers failed to record any outs, with Gavin Lux bobbling the ball at second base to let in a run, making it 2-0.
After that, however, Buehler settled down.
He retired the next two batters to limit the third-inning damage.
He then navigated three more innings with much-needed efficiency, giving up only an infield single the rest of the way in a six-inning, two-run (one earned) outing.
The Braves (81-68) allowed the Dodgers to get back into the game with their own sloppy execution.
After Ohtani trimmed the deficit in half with a RBI double in the fifth, he got another chance with runners on base in the seventh thanks in small part to Braves left-hander Dylan Lee.
With two outs in the inning, Lee had Smith in a full count, but then committed a pitch clock violation (his second of the inning) that led to an automatic walk. After pinch-hitter Andy Pages followed with a single, Ohtani came back to the plate and doubled again, dropping a line drive down the right field line.
That knotted the score at 2-2. Two innings later, the Dodgers burst in front for good.
