Tuesday, October 6, 2026

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2026

Two down. Nine to go.

Keektober showed up. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was brilliant.

On a pleasant Tuesday night at Truist Park, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves, 3–1. The Dodgers lead the NLDS two games to one.

Coming into the game, there was much skepticism about whether the Dodgers could solve Chris Sale. The Dodgers constantly built counts to make Sale work. They couldn’t get the big hit until the fourth inning. After Andy Pages singled, Kiké Hernández homered. In the same inning, Freddie Freeman hit a solo home run.

Pages had no hits coming into Game 3, prompting the media to ask Dave Roberts if he considered benching Pages. The Dodgers need Pages for his defense. He missed a month with a broken hand. He had only six games to get ready for the postseason. Roberts thought Pages was pressing in the first two games of the series, but on Tuesday, he had two hits.

Roberts moved Shohei Ohtani to the fifth spot in the lineup, the lowest that he has hit as a Dodger. While he didn’t have a hit, he looked calmer at the plate, even collecting a walk.

What to say about Yoshinobu Yamamoto? He is remarkable. He hadn’t pitched in a game in thirteen days, but he had his pinpoint command. He used his fastball more than usual, but all of his pitches were working. He ran into a little trouble during the fifth inning when the Braves scored their only run, but he regained his rhythm quickly. In his seven innings, he struck out ten while walking one.

Tanner Scott was sharp in the eighth inning.

After allowing a leadoff double, Edwin Díaz was sharp while closing out the victory. Having Díaz be able to preserve victories is a surprising development for Roberts, and it makes the Dodgers harder to beat.

On Wednesday, with Tyler Glasnow on the mound, the Dodgers can close out the NLDS.