Breathless Dodgers

Even if they end up in the cables, the Los Angeles Dodgers believe they still have gasoline in the tank to work their way up the hill in the National League Baseball Championship Series.

After a heartbreaking 5-4 loss in the second matchup against the Atlanta BravesOn Sunday night, the reigning major league champions are trailing 2-0 and will need to take advantage of their fans’ encouragement at Dodger Stadium to get back into the fight. However, on the field, the task promises to be difficult, since the opponent is in good shape and that in the Californian camp, certain key elements seem to be at the end of the line.

The third matchup in the series will take place Tuesday at 5 p.m. and will be broadcast on TVA Sports.

This is the case of pitcher Max Scherzer, who lamented his « dead arm » at the end of his evening of work which ended with two runs allowed in four sets and a third. Manager Dave Roberts limited him to 79 shots in his fourth outing in 12 days. Despite the overwhelming fatigue, there is no question of giving up, precisely. It will be up to gunner Walker Buehler to bring his family back to success, even if he has been entitled to less leave than usual.

“It’s unfortunate,” Scherzer told MLB.com of Sunday’s failure. However, we will have « Walk » in Game 3 and if the baseball clichés are true, you are not as good as the starter your next meet. So « Walk » will be at the mound and we really believe we can win with him. « 

The strategy did not work …

A victory on their return home becomes imperative for the Dodgers, who cannot afford to fall back 3-0. And it will take a lot more to overcome the Braves, who will come with the wind in their sails. They erased a delay of 4-2 with two runs in the eighth inning of the previous game.

However, Roberts had chosen to bet on Julio Urias, author of a season of 20 wins, came in relief. But the strategy didn’t work and Atlanta eventually came to a decision with the decisive point in the bottom of the ninth.

Now Urias will be available for Game 4 on Wednesday, except he too will have to deal with reduced respite. The manager’s decision was, for this reason, questioned by several observers.

“He had not thrown in the enclosure and he represented the best option at the time, wanted to justify Roberts. He was prepared for it. It was the perfect place for him, we wanted to go through the eighth round with him before we ended up with Kenley [Jansen]. « 

The sequel concerning Urias does not seem to concern the Dodgers, however.

“Julio is in a different situation. His pitch total is lower. That way, he will have a fitter arm and he should be ready for his next start, ”Scherzer predicted, recalling that the southpaw made 59 shots in the fifth game of the divisional series against the San Francisco Giants.