Dodgers set MLB postseason record with 11-run first inning

The Dodgers unloaded all of their frustration of losing the first two games of the National League Championship into a single inning, the very first frame of Game 3 against the Braves. The Dodgers scored 11 runs in the first, the most by any team in any inning in MLB postseason history, per STATS LLC.

In the first two games of the series, the Dodgers only scored one run in 10 total innings off Braves starters Max Fried and Ian Anderson. a The Dodgers made Fried throw 28 pitches in the first inning of Game 1, then saw 29 pitches from Anderson in the first inning of Game 2, but failed to score in the inning off either pitcher.

“Yeah, we made them work, but we haven’t capitalized,” Mookie Betts said before Game 3. “We have to capitalize when we make them work. That’s how you win games.”

In the first inning of Game 3, the Dodgers saw 28 pitches from Braves starter Kyle Wright, but he couldn’t complete the inning because of the carnage.

Maybe the most amazing feature of the inning is that it was still just 1-0 with two outs, and Corey Seager on third base after doubling home Betts for the game’s first run. But then, this happened:

• Will Smith doubled home Seager. 2-0
• Cody Bellinger walked
• Joc Pederson, starting in the field for the first time this postseason, homered. 5-0
• Edwin Ríos, in his first game after missing the last seven with a groin injury, homered. 6-0
• Chris Taylor walked

Grant Dayton relieved Wright at this point, but the inning, like Frank Stallone, was far from over:

• Betts walked
• Seager singled home Taylor. 7-0
• What at first looked like a wild pitch for a run was instead a ball that Justin Turner kicked on the ground, and was awarded a hit by pitch. Bases loaded.
• Max Muncy hit a grand slam. 11-0

Dayton threw 17 pitches of his own in the first, making for a 45-pitch frame.

In addition to the MLB record for runs in an inning, the Dodgers also homered three times in the same inning for the first time in postseason history.

In the first inning, 14 Dodgers came to the plate to score 11 runs on seven hits, three walks, and a hit by pitch. It was their most runs scored in the first inning in any game, regular or postseason, in 66 years.

It was an inning to remember.