Yamamoto Sets MLB Playoff Mark in 3-1 NLDS Win as Dodgers Move 1 Victory Away

Q: How did a single regretted changeup completely derail a dominant pitcher and push a contender to the brink of elimination?

It was one pitch, but it flipped the game and the series. Chris Sale had matched Yoshinobu Yamamoto through three scoreless innings in Game 3, yet the Dodgers had already forced him to work, driving his pitch count to 62 through three. Then in the fourth, after Andy Pages singled, Sale doubled up on a changeup to Kiké Hernández. The second one stayed in the zone, Hernández recognized it, and he drove it 406 feet to left for a two-run homer. Sale himself identified that pitch as the one he wanted back. He said one swing “changed the whole trajectory of that game,” and the evidence supports that. Until then, it was a tight ace-versus-ace duel. After Hernández’s homer, Freddie Freeman added another solo shot in the same inning, turning a 1-1 game into a 3-1 Dodgers lead and ending Atlanta’s margin for error. The damage went beyond the scoreboard. Sale still struck out seven and did not walk a batter, but the fourth inning erased what had been a dominant start and put Atlanta behind in both the game and the series. Because Los Angeles won 3-1, Hernández’s mistake-punishing swing became the decisive moment. It also exposed the larger problem for Atlanta: its offense did not answer. The Braves scored only once against Yamamoto, who went seven innings with 10 strikeouts, and Atlanta had managed just seven runs through three games. So the regretted changeup did not just spoil Sale’s night; it gave the Dodgers a 2-1 NLDS lead and pushed the Braves to the brink of elimination.

3 articles · Updated · Bleacher Report · Oct 7

Yoshinobu Yamamoto became the first pitcher in MLB history to post five straight playoff wins while allowing no more than one run and one walk, leading Los Angeles past Atlanta 3-1 in Game 3.
Over 7 innings, Yamamoto gave up 4 hits and 1 run, walked 1 and struck out 10, outdueling Braves ace Chris Sale, who allowed 3 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings.
The victory put the Dodgers up 2-1 in the best-of-five NLDS after they had dropped Game 2 despite a perceived pitching edge.
Yamamoto, 28, has now allowed more than one run in only 2 of his last 10 playoff outings, extending the postseason dominance that followed his 12-year, $325 million deal with Los Angeles.