Shohei Ohtani Walks It Off as Dodgers Stay Perfect, Beat Braves 6-5

Through two innings at Chavez Ravine on Wednesday evening, it looked like the Dodgers may be headed for their first loss of the season.

Down 5-2, the Braves scored a five-spot off Blake Snell in large part to some uncharacteristic errors on LA’s part. Max Muncy and Andy Pages made defensive flubs directly leading to Atlanta’s hot start.

Muncy was charged with two errors during this period (both on throws). Pages misjudged a ball hit to centerfield courtesy of Ozzie Albies. While he wasn’t credited with an error, it’s a play Pages should make. Snell only pitched four innings — giving up five hits, four walks, and zero earned runs.

Just when you think the Braves are in line to notch their first win of the season, in classic Dodgers form, LA chipped away until the dam broke wide open.

Atlanta didn’t score a run after the second inning. The Dodgers bullpen — led by Ben Casparius, Kirby Yates, and Jack Dreyer — allowed zero runs and only three hits over 5.0 innings. LA’s offense utilized its patented grind-it-out style — ultimately knocking Atlanta starter Bryce Elder out of the game by the fifth inning. The Braves used five relievers in this game, and all five gave up hits.

Getting two runners in scoring position, the Dodgers tied the game at 5-5 in the 8th inning courtesy of a two-run double by Muncy. An early adopter of the ‘torpedo’ bat, Muncy had little luck with it earlier in the contest. During this pivotal at-bat, he reverted back to his traditional bat, and it ultimately paid dividends.

After a clean 9th inning, Pages began the inning with a strikeout. Shohei Ohtani followed — and he did what Ohtani often does. He took the first pitch he saw from Raisel Iglesias and drove it over the left-center wall for the walk-off win.

The Braves (0-7) remain winless after facing most likely the toughest road trip any team could face. Going across the country, Atlanta played the only two teams (LA, San Diego) who’ve yet to lose a game this year. The Braves will lick their wounds and head home to play the Marlins on Friday.

The Dodgers (8-0) have won their first eight games to start a season for the first time since 1955 — and they did so with Freddie Freeman not even participating in this series.

LA now heads to Philadelphia to begin a weekend series against the vaunted Phillies.