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Dodgers Fail To Recover From Early Deficit In 8-7 NLCS Game 2 Loss
Mookie Betts rounds the bases in Game 2 of the NLCS. (Image courtesy of Darren Georgia/MLB.com)

Dodgers Fail To Recover From Early Deficit In 8-7 NLCS Game 2 Loss

The Los Angeles Dodgers fell behind 7-0 before they scored their first run in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) against the Atlanta Braves and despite a late rally they failed to overcome the deficit in an 8-7 loss.

With Clayton Kershaw a gameday scratch with back spasms, Tony Gonsolin got the pitching start for the Dodgers.

Gonsolin threw three scoreless innings before he gave up a two run homer to Freddie Freeman for an early 2-0 Braves lead. While he managed to close out the inning after that, Gonsolin’s struggles continued into the fifth. 

After a walk to Nick Marakakis, Gonsolin gave up an RBI double to Cristian Pache to make it 3-0 and issued another walk to Ronald Acuna before he was yanked by manager Dave Roberts for Pedro Baez.

Baez however was not the answer the Dodgers were looking for and similarly struggled.

He gave up an RBI single to Freddie Freeman, walked in a run with a pair of back-to-back walks, allowed a third run on an Ozzie Albies sac fly and suddenly the Dodgers hole had quickly expanded to 6-0. 

Baez was pulled for Dylan Floro who finally managed to get the Dodgers out of the inning and stop the bleeding.

The Braves tacked on one more two innings later in the top of the seventh on a ground rule double off of Alex Wood to make it 7-0, but the Dodgers bats finally came to life in the bottom of the inning.

Joc Pederson and Chris Taylor each singled off of Braves reliever Darren O’Day and after a pitching change to replace O’Day with A.J. Minter, Corey Seager swatted a three run home run to left center field to close the gap to 7-3.

The Dodgers couldn’t keep the momentum up immediately and the Braves added a run in the ninth on an Ozzie Albies solo homer to jump the lead back up to 8-3, but L.A. didn’t roll over.

In the bottom of the inning Mookie Betts singled and Seager brought him in with an RBI double, one out later Max Muncy homered to bring in Seager and the Dodgers had closed the gap to 8-6.

After a Braves pitching change to Mark Melancon, Will Smith managed to reach base on a fielding error and Cody Bellinger brought him home on a triple to make it a one run game. 

Suddenly a game that had felt out of reach all night seemed within the Dodgers grasp.

The magic quickly faded as the outburst proved to be too little, too late for the boys in blue, as the game ended 8-7 on an A.J. Pollock groundout.

The Dodgers will have another opportunity to turn things around Wednesday afternoon at 3:05 p.m.

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Dodgers Fail To Recover From Early Deficit In 8-7 NLCS Game 2 Loss

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About Wyatt Smith

Wyatt was born and raised in Santa Clarita. After graduating from Hart High School in 2012, he continued his studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a degree in applied statistics. After a year and a half working in the digital advertising industry, Wyatt left his previous field of work to pursue his interest in writing.