The Atlanta Braves were five outs away from taking a 3-0 lead in the NLCS before things came unraveled in the eighth inning of Game 3 on Tuesday. They didn’t have time to lick their wounds much, because Game 4 took place in Dodger Stadium Wednesday night, and the Braves bounced back with a 9-2 victory.
The Braves struck first with back-to-back homers in the second inning from Eddie Rosario and Adam Duvall off L.A. starter Julio Urías.
Freddie Freeman added a solo homer in the third inning, giving the Braves a 3-0 lead. We showed the Duvall homer for a reason, because he was the early all-around star for the Braves.
In the bottom of the second, Dodgers utility man Gavin Lux clubbed what looked like a home run — at least that’s how Lux reacted (for the second time this October). It was not, as Duvall showed the range and the robbery. Take a look:
We obviously can’t be 100 percent sure, but a side view of the catch made it look like the ball would have hit on top of the wall and then go into the stands for a home run had Duvall not gloved it. Per Statcast metrics, Lux hit the ball 389 feet. Center field is 395 feet and left-center is 385 and it was sort of between those two spots of measurement.
Duvall would later add a sac fly as the Dodgers went on to win in a blowout, 9-2.
The biggest takeaway here is what a difference Duvall made in the early going. Rosario’s home run was obviously big in being the first run on the board, but tacking the second on provides breathing room and then Duvall robbing Lux deprived the Dodgers of creeping back within a run and getting the crowd back into it.
Of course, Rosario ended up the biggest star of the night when he flirted with hitting for the cycle and instead hit a second homer to go with his single and double. His three-run homer put the game out of reach in the ninth inning.
