Braves Slam The Door With Ohtani Stranded At Third

The Dodgers came into Atlanta carrying a six-game winning streak and the feeling that some of the pieces were finally beginning to fall into place. Tyler Glasnow was back on the mound after more than three months away, the lineup had been getting contributions from players who weren't supposed to be carrying it, and the Dodgers had just completed consecutive sweeps of Colorado and Pittsburgh.

Then the ninth inning happened.

With the Braves leading 4-3, Shohei Ohtani opened the inning by driving a ball off the left-field wall and racing into third with a triple. There were no outs, and Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts were coming to the plate. If ever there were a time for the Dodgers to manufacture one run, this was it. They had the tying run 90 feet away and their two most accomplished hitters standing between Ohtani and home plate.

Three outs later, Ohtani was still standing on third.

Atlanta had slammed the door, the Dodgers' six-game winning streak was over and a game they had spent much of the night trying to reclaim had slipped away, 4-3.

The frustrating part was that Los Angeles had enough opportunities to win. The Dodgers collected 10 hits, Atlanta had nine, and neither team committed an error. Los Angeles also left 11 runners on base, a number that tends to become rather significant when the final margin is one run.

Mookie Betts had no interest in dressing up his final at-bat.

"It's tough on everybody, just trying to get a ball in the air and score 'em," Betts said. "It doesn't really matter what it looks like; he just needs to touch the plate, and I didn't do my job."

There wasn't much more to say.

The Dodgers had spent the evening working their way back from an early deficit, and much of that work was done by the same part of the lineup that has been keeping them afloat while injuries continue to rearrange the roster.

Alek Thomas and Hunter Feduccia each delivered two-out RBI singles in the second inning, cutting Atlanta's early lead to 3-2. Alex Call tied the game in the fourth with another RBI single, and Call and Feduccia each finished with two hits.

Call's approach afterward was simple.

"Just tried to be me, take good at-bats."

That's become something of a theme for the Dodgers' fill-in players. They aren't being asked to replace Andy Pages or Will Smith. They are being asked to step into a lineup that suddenly has openings and keep it functioning until the regulars return. Thomas, Feduccia and Call have done that, and Tuesday night was another example.

The Dodgers just couldn't get enough of those opportunities across the plate.

Tyler Glasnow's return was another story entirely, and for the first inning it looked like the story might be a short one.

Making his first start since May because of lower-back spasms, Glasnow gave up hits to four of Atlanta's first five hitters. The Braves turned those hits into three runs before the inning finally ended, putting the Dodgers in an early hole and Glasnow in the position of having to find his footing after more than three months away.

He found it.

Glasnow retired Atlanta in order in the third and worked through the next three innings without allowing another run. He struck out seven, walked nobody and finished with six hits allowed over five innings and 89 pitches.

"I thought we pitched well enough to win tonight," Dave Roberts said. "Unfortunately, it didn't happen."

That was particularly true of Glasnow after the first inning. The three runs remained on his line, but the rest of the outing looked much more like the pitcher the Dodgers had been waiting to get back.

"Glad I feel healthy, and my stuff feels good," Glasnow said.

For the Dodgers, that may ultimately be more important than the loss.

Glasnow was not perfect, but he was healthy, he settled down and he gave the Dodgers five innings after beginning the night by allowing Atlanta to load the bases with alarming efficiency. A pitcher returning from a long layoff could have allowed the first inning to become a five-inning problem. Glasnow didn't.

The Dodgers instead spent the rest of the night trying to solve a one-run game.

Atlanta finally broke the 3-3 tie in the eighth against Tanner Scott. Matt Olson opened the inning with a double, Mauricio Dubón moved him to third with a broken-bat grounder and Michael Harris II failed to bring him home. Ozzie Albies then lined a single to center, scoring Olson and putting Atlanta back in front.

It was the kind of inning that had been threatening to happen all night. The Dodgers had left runners on. Atlanta had left runners on. Both teams had spent stretches making a one-run lead look considerably less secure than it actually was.

Eventually, somebody had to get the deciding hit.

Albies did.

Ohtani nearly answered.

Instead, the Dodgers left Atlanta with their winning streak finished and their series against the Braves suddenly carrying even more weight.

There was no collapse here, no ugly pitching performance and no night in which the Dodgers were simply outclassed. They came back from 3-0, got five solid innings from a pitcher returning from a lengthy absence and received five hits and three RBI from the bottom third of the lineup.

They simply left too much behind.

Eleven men left on base is difficult to overcome against anyone, and particularly difficult against a first-place team when the game comes down to one run.

The loss also provided a reminder that the Dodgers' recent six-game run did not erase the problems that existed before it. They can play well and still lose a game like this. They can get 10 hits and still score only three runs. They can put the tying run on third base with nobody out and still walk off the field without it.

That's baseball, particularly when two teams with postseason ambitions meet in late August.

The Dodgers don't have much time to dwell on it. Roki Sasaki is scheduled to start Wednesday against Atlanta, with the Dodgers looking to even the series before moving on.

For one night, though, the image that will stick is Ohtani standing 90 feet from home plate while the Braves found three ways to keep him there.

The Dodgers had him right where they wanted him. They just couldn't get him the rest of the way home.