Dodgers force NLCS Game Seven with Braves
The Braves and Dodgers continued their best-of-seven National League Championship Series tonight with their sixth meeting of the season...Atlanta and Los Angeles did not play during the regular season, and last met in 2019...The Braves went 2-4 in six games against the Dodgers last season, getting swept at Dodger Stadium and winning two-of-three in Atlanta…The Braves and Dodgers have met three times in postseason play, all of which have come in the Division Series...Atlanta swept Los Angeles in the 1996 NLDS, while Los Angeles has won each of the last two series, in 2013 and 2018, three-games-to-one.
Max Fried I: Made his second start of the series and allowed eight hits, four walks and three runs over 6.2 innings…Allowed all three runs in the first inning, including back-to-back solo home runs to Corey Seager and Justin Turner…Including today’s effort, Fried has a 5.40 ERA (9 ER/15.0 IP) in the first inning and a 1.81 ERA (13 ER/64.2 IP) in all other frames…He has allowed four home runs in 23.2 postseason innings after allowing just two homers in 56.0 innings in the regular season.
Max Fried II: Pitched 6.2 innings and threw a career-most 109 pitches…Was just the sixth 100-pitch game of his career…Fried is the first Braves starter to pitch at least 6.2 innings in a potential clincher since Mike Hampton in Game 5 of the 2003 NLDS.
Second Inning: Atlanta loaded the bases with no one out in the second inning but failed to score after Austin Riley and Nick Markakis struck out and Cristian Pache grounded out to end the inning…The Braves struck out 37 times with a runner on third and less than two out this season, easily most in the majors, while their 26.1 strikeout percentage in these situations was fourth highest in baseball.
RISP: The Braves went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position tonight, stranding eight runners…Atlanta is batting .254 (15-for-59) with runners in scoring position this series but eight of those hits came in Game 4, when the Braves went 8-for-13 in such situations…In all other games, the Braves are 7-for-48 (.145) with runners in scoring position.
Dansby Swanson: Logged three singles and a stolen base, becoming just the third Braves shortstop with three hits and a steal in a playoff game…Rafael Furcal was the last to do so, in Game 2 of the 2004 NLDS, while current Atlanta bench coach Walt Weiss did it in both the 1998 and 1998 NLCS.
Nick Markakis: Tripled in the seventh inning for his first career three-base hit in the postseason…Markakis has just 22 career triples in 8,302 at-bats in the regular season, with his last coming on June 1, 2019.
Game 6: The Braves played their 15th Game 6 of a playoff round today, and they dropped to 4-11 (.267) in these games.
Game 7: The Braves will play the seventh Game 7 in franchise history tomorrow, and the first the 1996 NLCS…The Braves are 4-2 in Game 7s.