Saturday, May 3, 2025
Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025
After a three—hour-and-six-minute rain delay, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Atlanta Braves 10-to-3 on Saturday night at Truist Park. Roki Sasaki received his first victory in the United States when he went five innings. The offense exploded highlighted by a three-run homer by Freddie Freeman. The Dodgers have the best record in the major leagues.
The Dodgers put Tommy Edman with an inflamed ankle on the 10-day IL and promoted Hyeseong Kim. They hope Edman will return soon after tweaking his ankle while scoring during Tuesday’s game against the Marlins. They also want to give Kim an opportunity to Kim to see what life in the United States’ major leagues is like.
After about a three-hour rain delay, the game started. Shohei Ohtani singled to begin the game, but Mookie Betts hit into a force play, erasing Ohtani. The Dodgers didn’t do anything offensively.
Roki Sasaki allowed an infield single with an out in the first and issued a walk with two outs in the inning. Sasaki struck out the last hitter of the inning.
To start the second, Will Smith doubled, and Max Muncy was plunked by a pitch. Andy Pages’ sacrifice fly advanced Smith to third. Michael Conforto hit into a force play, erasing Pages and scoring Smith. The Dodgers didn’t score any more runs.
Sasaki allowed a single to begin the second and a stolen base. He gave up a game-tying triple. He escaped the jam without any more damage.
Ohtani homered to begin the third. Betts singled and moved to second on Freddie Freeman’s ground ball. Teoscar Hernández singled in Betts. Max Muncy walked with two outs. Pages struck out to end the inning.
With two outs in the third, Sasaki issued a walk but got a grounder to end the inning.
With two outs in the fourth, Ohtani singled and scored on Betts’ double. Betts scored on Freeman’s single. Freeman scored on a throwing error, and Teoscar Hernández went to second after an infield single. Smith singled in Teoscar Hernández.
Sasaki allowed a solo home run in the fourth. He allowed a single with one out and a run-scoring double. He escaped the jam without any more runs scoring.
The Dodgers went down in order in the fifth.
Sasaki was perfect in the fifth.
With two outs in the sixth, Freeman reached on an infield single but didn’t advance.
Anthony Banda relieved Sasaki in the sixth with a perfect inning.
The Dodgers didn’t do anything offensively in the seventh.
Banda continued pitching in the seventh and retired one hitter. Then, Kirby Yates relieved him and allowed a double with two outs. He retired the last out.
With an out in the eighth, Ohtani and Betts walked, and Freeman blasted a three-run homer.
Alex Vesia relieved Yates and allowed a single with an out in the eighth. Vesia didn’t allow anything else.
The Dodgers went down in order in the ninth.
Luis Garcia relieved Vesia in the ninth, and Hyeseong Kim made his major league debut at second base. Garcia allowed a single to start the ninth. He gave up another single. He issued a walk to load the bases. He escaped from the jam scorelessly.
