Dodgers beat Braves in marquee series opener…
Time will inform if this weekend’s series is a postseason preview.
But Friday evening actually had the texture of a playoff sport.
On one facet, the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers.
Freddie Freeman belts a solo homer in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ 3-1 win over the Braves on May 8, 2026 in Los Angeles. AP
On the other, a red-hot Atlanta Braves squad that arrived in Los Angeles tied for the most early-season wins in the majors.
Both groups possess high-powered offenses, with the Braves main baseball in runs scored and the Dodgers topping all golf equipment in OPS.
Both groups have proficient pitching staffs, the Dodgers rating second in ERA and the Braves led by former Cy Young winner Chris Sale.
On Friday, both turned one spectacular defensive play after another on top of all that.
But in the end, the Dodgers did what they normally do in high-profile matchups, grinding out a 3-1 win to take the opening contest in this three-game set.
This one was determined on the margins, in the end coming down to one expensive mistake and one big swing.
Chris Sale allowed three runs, two earned, over seven innings in the Braves’ loss to the Dodgers. AP
With the rating tied 1-1 in the fifth inning, Braves rookie shortstop Jim Jarvis –– recent off a beautiful diving catch in the underside of the fourth and his first profession hit in the top of the fifth –– airmailed a throw into the dugout that put Miguel Rojas on second base.
Three batters later, Shohei Ohtani snuck a two-out ground-ball through the infield for a go-ahead RBI single.
In the sixth, the Dodgers would stretch their benefit, when Freddie Freeman capitalized on a uncommon misfire from the 37-year-old Sale. In a 0-1 depend, the left-hander left a fastball over the guts of the plate. With his greatest swing in weeks, Freeman clobbered it to heart for his first home run since April 6.
Shohei Ohtani snuck a two-out ground-ball through the infield for a go-ahead RBI single in the sixth inning of the Dodgers’ win over the Braves. AP
That was enough to give the Dodgers some respiration room. The relaxation of the way in which, they leaned on their bullpen to close it out.
After a 4 ⅔-inning, one-run start from Emmet Sheehan, the Dodgers’ aid corps mixed for 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball.
It began with Alex Vesia, who stranded a pair of runners he inherited from Sheehan in the fifth. Kyle Hurt got here on next, gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the sixth, then escaped the jam in his highest-leverage look so far this season.
Download The California Post App, observe us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
California Post News: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, YouTube, WhatsApp, LinkedIn
California Post Sports Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X
California Post Opinion
California Post Newsletters: Sign up right here!
California Post App: Download right here!
Home supply: Sign up right here!
Page Six Hollywood: Sign up right here!
And from there, Will Klein and Brock Stewart constructed a bridge to the ninth inning, where Tanner Scott emerged for his third save.
There have been other key moments combined in along the way in which, like a excellent relay play from Teoscar Hernández and Miguel Rojas to gun down a runner at home in the fourth.
Though the Dodgers didn’t precisely remedy Sale in a seven-inning, seven-strikeout start, they did enough –– in every section –– to win on a evening with shades of October.
After a 4 ⅔-inning, one-run start from Emmet Sheehan (above), the Dodgers’ aid corps mixed for 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball in their win over the Braves. AP
What it means
That, when dealing with premier competitors, the Dodgers can win in a quantity of methods.
After all, the crew was out-hit 9-5 on Friday. Sale simply outshined Sheehan, who continued to battle fluctuating fastball velocity, on the mound.
Yet, as the membership has finished so often over the past two Octobers, they prevailed nonetheless, profitable for a fourth time in the past video games to improve to 4-3 against opponents with profitable information this season.
Who’s scorching
The Dodgers acquired on the board Friday courtesy of Kyle Tucker, who continues the slow course of of turning his season around.
With two outs in the second, Tucker was dealing with a 1-2 gap against Sale when he acquired a shin-high slider over the periphery of the plate.
He was early with his swing, but rode the pitch out and in some way acquired the barrel to it, pulling a double down the right-field line to erase an early 1-0 deficit.
The hit marked Tucker’s seventh double in his last 14 video games (a stretch that also contains a home run), and helped him raise his batting average to .288 in that time.
The Dodgers acquired on the board Friday courtesy of Kyle Tucker, who continues the slow course of of turning his season around. AP
The $240 million signing is still hitting just .254 on the season with a sub-.750 OPS, but has at least been contributing more usually since being dropped down the lineup.
Who’s not
With Mookie Betts out on a rehab project and set to rejoin the Dodgers on Monday, a probably tough roster resolution is on the horizon.
And in a uncommon likelihood to start Friday, utilityman Santiago Espinal didn’t precisely help his trigger.
While Espinal labored a couple long at-bats against Sale, he only turned one of them into a hit. And even then, he acquired himself thrown out attempting to stretch for an ill-advised hustle double on an opposite-field line drive.
Espinal, a former All-Star trying to revive his MLB profession with the Dodgers this yr, is now batting just .200. It’s attainable that, when Betts returns, the Dodgers will choose to ship one of Hyeseong Kim or Alex Freeland back to the minors, where they may get more common taking part in time.
But both of them have been productive recently, raising the likelihood that the Dodgers may cut Espinal free in the next few days.
Up next
Two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell will make his season debut Saturday evening, after lacking the start of the marketing campaign recovering from offseason shoulder fatigue. The Braves will flip to former All-Star Spencer Strider, for what will probably be only his second start of the yr since returning from an indirect pressure.
Stay up to date with the latest trending topics! Visit our web site daily for the freshest Sports news and content, rigorously curated to keep you informed.