Dodgers must break their reliance on home runs to

The most spectacular quantity the Dodgers put up this season was 100 — the video games they gained. They had to do a lot of issues proper to get there.

No Dodger ranked among the top 16 in the majors in home runs or the top 37 in RBIs, yet they had been fourth in runs scored. How? They had been third in the majors in walks and close to the underside in strikeouts, which allowed them to manufacture runs by stringing together long innings quite than relying on the long ball.

Two video games into the postseason, that script has flipped. After Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Braves, the Dodgers head to Atlanta with their best-of-five National League Division Series tied. Suddenly the Braves, who will start ace Chris Sale on Tuesday, have the sting.

“Getting the split in this place against these guys, yeah, it’s awesome,” Braves supervisor Walt Weiss said.

All seven of the Dodgers’ runs in the NLDS have come on 5 home runs, three of them with the bases empty. The Dodgers are 0 for 9 with males in scoring place, stranding 13 runners. They’ve also struck out thrice more often than they’ve walked and are batting .215 against the relay staff of 10 pitchers Atlanta has used.

“We didn’t throw out a bunch of hits, but there was still traffic,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts said. “We didn’t need many hits tonight to have a different result, and we just couldn’t get it.”

Sure it’s a small pattern; just two video games. Yet it must be a troubling one for the Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions.

“Sometimes it’s just you can’t hit,” said Mookie Betts, who walked twice. “I mean, there’s nothing really you can do to explain that. You’ve just got to be in the moment and come through. We had some moments today [when] we didn’t come through.

“That’s part of the game. We’ve just got to keep giving ourselves moments, and eventually something will happen.”

“We’ve got to find a way to score some runs without hitting a home run,” added Freddie Freeman, who homered Sunday and has three hits in the sequence. “That’s our biggest thing right now. So keep getting guys on base and get that big hit.”

Freeman said the Braves have performed a good job preserving the Dodgers hitters off-balance by emptying their bullpen, sending in a contemporary pitcher every couple of innings.

“It’s tough because you’re facing a different arm every single time you’re going up there,” Freeman said. “It’s different angles, different velocities, different things. So stringing hits together is very hard.

“This is the playoffs. We’re not going to score eight to 10 runs. It’s hard. Pitching staffs are good.”

Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández puzzled whether or not the Braves’ sport plan may soon backfire. Aside from Sale, Weiss has few pitchers left the Dodgers haven’t seen; finally they’ll catch up, he says.

“We’ve seen basically the best out of the bullpen,” Hernández said. “We can have a better plan for Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Will Smith reacts after coming out during the fifth inning in the Dodgers’ 3-2 loss to the Braves on Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Although the Dodgers dedicated the second-fewest errors and gave up the fewest unearned runs this season, they haven’t appeared sharp defensively in the postseason, with all three Atlanta runs Sunday coming with two outs.

The Braves loaded the bases in the first inning on a single and two walks before scoring when a diving Betts snared a Mauricio Dubón grounder up the center, but threw wild and late to first, enabling Ronald Acuña Jr. to rating. They then went forward to keep in the fifth on a line drive to left that Hernández misplayed into a triple, adopted by reliever Kris Bubic’s wild pitch.

“I didn’t think he hit it that good,” Hernández said. “I didn’t break in, but I broke to the side. And then when I realized, it was too late.”

Atlanta’s remaining run got here in the seventh when Michael Harris II one-hopped the wall in right-center, permitting Matt Olson, working from first on the full-count pitch, to rating.

Now the benefit swings to the Braves, who go to Truist Park, where that they had the second-best home document in the league.

“We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew those guys weren’t going to go down,” Roberts said of the Braves.

“Now it’s a three-game series.”