Instead of extending their winning streak to five games and celebrating what would have been the first great catch of Mallex Smith’s career, the Braves watched Justin Turner deliver a double that proved decisive for the Dodgers in Wednesday night’s 5-3, 10-inning win at Turner Field.
After seeing closer Arodys Vizcaino notch three strikeouts in a scoreless ninth, the Braves watched former closer Jason Grilli put two on before Turner delivered his game-winner, which bounced out of Smith’s glove as he dove toward left-center field. Yasmani Grandal’s single off Alexi Ogando provided an insurance run for the Dodgers, who prevented the Braves from becoming the first team in Major League history to follow a 0-9 start (or worse) with five consecutive victories.
Dodgers starter Ross Stripling endured the first rough outing of his young career — allowing three runs (two earned) over 3 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, Julio Teheran battled through the lingering effects of the fever that led the Braves to push his start back one day. Teheran exited after throwing just 75 pitches through 5 1/3 innings and immediately saw Adrian Gonzalez greet Eric O’Flaherty with a game-tying, two-run homer in the sixth inning.
“It was a good ballgame,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Julio, after dealing with his sickness, I felt he gave us everything possible that he could give us. We had a chance to win the ballgame, but we didn’t score any runs after the fourth inning.”
The Dodgers’ bullpen has picked up its starters in the first two games of the series. On Wednesday night, Adam Liberatore, J.P. Howell, Chris Hatcher, Yimi Garcia, Joe Blanton and Kenley Jansen combined to throw 6 1/3 innings of one-hit relief. That followed Tuesday’s effort of one earned run and three hits over four innings.
Stripling escaped a 26-pitch first inning unscathed, but he wasn’t as fortunate in the third inning. A.J. Pierzynski took advantage of a Corey Seager error by notching a two-out single that gave the Braves an early lead. Atlanta extended its lead to 3-0 in the fourth, when Erick Aybar delivered a leadoff double and scored on Daniel Castro’s two-out, two-run single.
Adrian Gonzalez continues to wear out Braves pitching. He blasted a game-tying two-run homer in the sixth inning, giving him three hits in the first two games of the series. He’s now hit safely in 11 of the last 13 games against the Braves, batting .353 in that span (18-for-51). In 2016, he’s batting .429 (15-for-35) on the road.
Gonzalez’s home run was one of the three extra-base hits O’Flaherty has surrendered in nine at-bats against left-handed hitters. In addition, it blemished the effort provided by Teheran, who kept the Dodgers scoreless until Nick Markakis’ two-base error in the fifth set the stage for Joc Pederson’s RBI single. Teheran exceeded 89 mph with just five of his 75 pitches, but he still needed just 45 pitches to limit Los Angeles to two hits through the first four innings.
“If you don’t use O’Flaherty there, you’re going to use him in the seventh, like we did with [Hunter] Cervenka,” Fredi Gonzalez said. “So you’ve got to pick the spot where you feel you’re going to be successful.”
Matt Wisler will take the mound when Atlanta concludes this three-game series on Thursday at 11:10 a.m. CT. Wisler will attempt to avoid the “big inning” that tarnished his first two starts against the Cardinals and Nationals. The right-hander was slated to start Tuesday, but was pushed back two days after he notched his first save in a relief appearance on Sunday.
