Dodgers Suffered Historic Loss Against Braves

One pitch was all it took to doom the Los Angeles Dodgers in their 1-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night, which resulted in a sweep at Truist Park.

The difference came on Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s first pitch of the night. Drake Baldwin hit a center-cut splitter 402 feet out to right field for a leadoff home run. It was the lone run Yamamoto allowed and one of four hits over 6.1 innings.

Dodgers historic loss

Thursday’s game marked the first time in Dodgers franchise history they lost 1-0 as the result of a first-pitch leadoff home run. It was the Braves’ first time winning a 1-0 game on a leadoff homer since 1889. Moreover, Baldwin became the first catcher in MLB history to hit a leadoff home run in a game that ended 1-0.

The series finale was an extension of the Dodgers’ ongoing struggles against teams with a winning record and their own offensive inconsistency. They were stifled this time by Chris Sale, who tossed a complete-game shutout.

Sale limited the Dodgers to just five hits and collected 11 strikeouts. The complete game was Sale’s first since 2019. The 37-year-old threw 109 pitches and reared back for two of his fastest pitches since 2018 by throwing 99.6 and 100.1 mph fastballs to Shohei Ohtani over the course of two separate at-bats.