The Los Angeles Dodgers drop their three-game set against the Atlanta Braves following Roki Sasaki's early departure.
The Los Angeles Dodgers drop another series in August, this time against the Atlanta Braves, by a 6-5 walk-off loss on Wednesday.
Despite the loss, the early dismissal of starter Roki Sasaki hangs over the head of the Dodgers. After 66 pitches, Dodgers trainer Thomas Albert, accompanied by pitching coach Mark Prior and interpreter Will Ireton, called for a mound visit to examine Sasaki's finger.
It turned out that his finger gushed with blood, which led to his removal in the fourth inning. The inning was not a pretty one by any means, with three of the first four batters reaching.
The Dodgers announced that Sasaki left the game with a blister in his middle finger.
Entering this outing against the Braves, Sasaki was passing some career milestones, as it marked his 23rd start, the most games he's started in any of his professional seasons pitched.
His 2.31 ERA in six starts post All-Star break has turned heads for the second-year starter.
Braves tagged on their first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning when Matt Olson launched his 37th home run of the season that bounced off the right field foul pole.
The bottom of the Dodgers' order continued to provide in big moments as they did during Tuesday's series opener. Hunter Feduccia tied the game with an RBI single, and Tommy Edman's second extra-base hit of the game, a two-run shot in the third, gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead.
Edgardo Henriquez was tasked with getting out of the fourth inning following Sasaki's departure, but not before the Braves put up a three-spot, highlighted by a dropped fly ball by Teoscar Hernández (ruled a double for Drake Baldwin) in left field that gave Atlanta a 4-3 lead.
Sean Murphy belted a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to extend the Braves' lead, but the Dodgers responded by way of some patient at-bats in the seventh inning and tied the contest.
In between that, the Dodgers could have put on additional runs, especially in situations when they had the bases loaded, but were not able to produce any further than that.
Fast forward to the bottom of the ninth inning, Atlanta sent out Ha-Seong Kim, who came into this game batting .066, followed by Lane Thomas' two-out double with a go-ahead walk-off single to secure the series victory.
With the loss, the Dodgers drop to 80-53 and look to avoid the sweep on Thursday with Yoshinobu Yamamoto toeing the rubber.
