Grant Holmes was great but Yoshinobu Yamamoto was even better.
Grant Holmes had one of the best nights of his career as a starter so far. Unfortunately, this coincided with Yoshinobu Yamamoto continuing to dominate on the mound and as such, the Atlanta Braves ended up dropping this one in a tight, low-scoring and rain-delayed 2-1 defeat.
Grant Holmes made a very successful trip through the order on his first go-around. He struck out the top of LA’s order to start the game — which is no mean feat considering the names that populate the top of this Dodgers lineup when they’re healthy. He kept it going into the second inning as he continued to keep the Dodgers off balance by sitting them down in order in that inning as well. The third inning was more of the same, as Holmes finished the first three innings of this one and his first trip through the order with a grand total of five strikeouts.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto kept pace with Holmes, which is what you’d expect from the guy who was leading baseball in ERA heading into this one. The only baserunner who Yamamoto had to deal with during his first trip through the order was Marcell Ozuna, who coaxed a walk out of the hurler after a long, 11-pitch battle. Other than that, the Braves were unable to get anything going through the first three innings of this one and the game was going at a lightning pace to start things off.
Holmes’ no-hit bid came to an end in the fourth inning, which is when the Dodgers got some traffic on the basepaths with one out — Mookie Betts got LA’s first hit after he hit one that deflected off of Holmes’ butt and into no-mans land for an infield single, then Freddie Freeman picked up an infield single of his own to make it a bit of a mini-jam before Holmes walked Teoscar Hernández to load the bases for Will Smith. Fortunately, the only damage that Holmes sustained in this inning in terms of runs was a sacrifice fly from Will Smith that broke the deadlock. Holmes was able to escape without giving up a ton of runs but now the onus was on Atlanta’s lineup to figure it out against Yamamoto.
Unfortunately for the Braves, Yamamoto looked especially locked in for tonight’s contest. LA’s top hurler made it through the first five innings without giving up a hit and the only guy who reached base against him during that span was Marcell Ozuna with a pair of walks. Other than Ozuna apparently having the best eye in baseball at the moment, the Braves were unable to really make something happen against Yamamoto in the early stages of this one and with his pitch count at a nice 69 following five innings, it was understandable if the minds of baseball fans both in the ballpark and watching at home or elsewhere were suddenly thinking about this being a really special night for Yamamoto.
Meanwhile, Grant Holmes continued to try his best against this Dodgers lineup and he got a chance to see them for the third time through the order once the sixth inning rolled around. Facing this Dodgers lineup three times in one game is pretty tough for any given pitcher and Holmes was no exception. He left a fastball right in the heart of the zone for Mookie Betts with one out in the sixth and sure enough, that is where baseballs go to get crushed by Mookie. Betts hit a fly ball that just about cleared the fence in left center for a solo shot that made it 2-0 Los Angeles at that point. While Holmes walked Freeman immediately afterwards, he was able to get out of that with a double play in order to keep the Braves within two heading into their half of the sixth inning.
Any idea of this being a really special night for Yoshinobu Yamamoto evaporated with two outs in the sixth inning, which is when Austin Riley laced one into the gap in right-center field for a double that officially ended Yamamoto’s no-hit bid. Now, the question was whether or not the Braves could capitalize on this opportunity. Now dear reader, Marcell Ozuna gave it his best effort to get on base once again — whether it was with a hit or for what would’ve been his third walk of the game. Sadly, Ozuna grounded out to third to end the scoring threat almost as quickly as it had appeared.
Grant Holmes got the ball to start the seventh inning but he only saw one batter and gave up a single before Brian Snitker went out and gave him the hook in favor of Dylan Lee. Fortunately, Lee was able to get a double play and then a strikeout in order to keep the Braves within striking distance while also making sure that Holmes ended up with a very solid line on the night. This was a definitely improvement over the start he made against the Dodgers at Chavez Ravine, as this time around he finished with six innings pitched and just two runs allowed with nine strikeouts to boot. He kept the Braves in this one, which is all you could ask for from Holmes on this particular night.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers decided to go to Kirby Yates for the seventh inning as they decided to sit Yoshinobu Yamamoto down with 91 pitches and six shutout, one-hit innings under his belt. That ended up biting the Dodgers immediately, as Matt Olson responded gleefully to seeing a new pitcher by hitting one out to dead center for a leadoff dinger that put the Braves on the board in this one. Not much happened for the Braves after Olson’s dinger but at least the Braves were a swing away from the Dodgers at this point.
Daysbel Hernández was called upon for relief duty for the eighth inning and while he walked Michael Conforto to start off the frame, he kept the Dodgers from doing any serious damage in that frame, which meant that it was set up for the Braves to potentially have another one of those magical eighth innings that they’ve made a habit of having lately. Tanner Scott has been very effective for the Dodgers out of the bullpen, so any success for the Braves in this frame wouldn’t be an easy task, at all. It turned out to be an exceedingly difficult one, as Scott didn’t have too many issues dealing with the Braves in this inning.
The eighth inning ended up being the last time we’d see some baseball for a while, as rain rolled through and forced the tarp onto the field. After a bit of a delay, the tarp eventually came off and the Braves returned to the diamond with hopes of another wacky post-rain delay comeback. Rafael Montero was given the ball for the ninth inning once the team returned to the field and he held up his end of the bargain with a 1-2-3 inning. That meant it was on the Braves to pull off some ninth-inning heroics against Evan Phillips following the rain delay.
The heart of the order was called upon in the ninth as well, so Atlanta definitely had their chance to make something happen late. However, Phillips was able to retire the Braves without much issue and that was the end of the ballgame. Atlanta’s pitching was good in this one but LA’s pitching was even better and that ended up being the difference.
The Braves will now be looking to even up the series tomorrow night starting at 7:15 p.m. ET. Weather may play a factor in tomorrow’s game but hopefully it won’t prevent us from seeing Spencer Schwellenbach get a chance to take on the Dodgers.