Dodgers rely on home runs as they defeat Braves

It was a thriller on Monday night, as the Dodgers pulled out the 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves. With the victory, the Dodgers are now 1.5 games out of first place in the NL West.

Things got very interesting late in the game, starting in the eighth inning. I’m going to do my best to explain this as best as I can, so take it easy on me. Okay so Ozzie Albies singled with one out, bringing the tying run to the plate in Jorge Soler. On a 1-1 pitch, Soler swung and missed, but hit catcher Will Smith on the follow through.

Soler was ruled out because of interference, making it two outs. However, the umpires said Albies was also out, and it was a double play.... wait what? After about five minutes of confusion, Albies returned back to first base and there were two outs.

Dave Roberts turned to Blake Treinen, looking for him to complete the four-out save. With no Kenley Jansen, it was in Treinen’s hands to close the game. He faced Freddie Freeman, who he got to ground out to end the inning.

Things got suspenseful in the ninth inning as Treinen allowed two runners to reach base with only one out. With the tying run on and the go-ahead run at the plate, Treinen recorded two outs to secure the save. This came moments after the Giants lost to the Brewers, moving LA to 1.5 games behind their rival in the division race.

Solo — A Monday story

Get the Han Solo movie reference? No? Okay let’s pretend that never happened.

The theme of the night was home runs, more specifically solo home runs. There were seven combined home runs between the two teams, with six of them being solo shots.

Max Muncy got the party started in the first inning as he crushed his 29th homer of the season. It was much needed from Muncy, who was 2-for-32 coming into the night over his last several games. He matched that hit total as he had two hits on the night.

Will Smith followed an inning later with a solo homer, his 22nd of the season. Smith has been arguably LA’s hottest hitter over the last few weeks. That was his seventh homer over his last 13 games. Oh, and by the way... he was EIGHTH in the lineup tonight. Now that is truly unfair.

The Dodgers hit two more home runs in the third inning. Mookie Betts hit a solo shot, adding to the list of Dodgers players to hit a home run on their bobblehead night. Corey Seager then added a home run a few batters later.... but his wasn’t as cool as the others, as this was a two-run shot.

Julio Urias first to 15 wins

By picking up the victory, Julio Urias became the first pitcher in all of baseball to reach the 15-win mark. I know wins aren’t really important anymore for pitchers, but that’s still an impressive feat to reach, especially considering he’s the Dodgers’ current No. 3 starter.

Urias was solid for the Dodgers, as he gave them six innings and allowed two runs, both of which were solo homers. He took a perfect game into the fifth inning, as the Braves had no answer for him through the first four innings.

“He was fantastic,” Roberts said following the game. “He just picked up where he left off. I thought he held his stuff, made good pitches, but they took a couple of good swings. He gave us what we needed. He’ll be ready to go against the Giants.”

He finished the game with seven strikeouts and zero walks.

Monday particulars

WP: Julio Urias (15-3) 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 SO, 0 BB

LP: Drew Smyly (9-4) 4.2 IP, 5 ER, 9 H

SV: Blake Treinen (5) 1.1 IP, 0 ER, 2 H

HR: Max Muncy (29) Will Smith (22) Mookie Betts (18) Corey Seager (7) Freddie Freeman (28) Adam Duvall (29) Jorge Soler (21)

Box score

Up next

The Dodgers will look to win their second straight game, as Walker Buehler takes the mound on Tuesday night.