Those seeking drama this MLB postseason need to turn their attention to the National League. Both the Cleveland Indians and Toronto Blue Jays swept their respective division series, while the two NLCS teams have yet to be determined.
Both the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers are facing elimination. They’ll play with urgency, but that alone won’t get them to Game 5.
What exactly will?
The Atlanta Braves announced Tuesday that Brian Snitker will take over as the club’s full-time manager after serving in an interim role to finish the 2016 season.
The organization relayed the news on its official Twitter feed.
Snitker took over the reins after Atlanta fired Fredi Gonzalez in May. The rebuilding Braves were off to a miserable 9-28 start and looked destined to finish in the MLB basement by a considerable margin before the 60-year-old Illinois native took over.
The Braves played much better following the managerial change. They went a respectable 59-65 under his guidance, climbing out of the cellar to finish with the fifth-worst record in the league, a small sign of progress as they look to make bigger strides in 2017.
David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution passed along comments from star first baseman Freddie Freeman in late September about the positive impact Snitker made:
I enjoy him. I loved him when he was here as a third-base coach. He’s just a calm guy. He goes out there, puts the lineup down and lets guys go to work. His presence is something that just makes you want to run through walls for. I think everybody in this clubhouse has responded to him, because he’s such a good guy, he treats everybody the right way. I love him, so you just want to go out there and do as good as you can for him.
Veteran outfielder Nick Markakis added: “A manager can only do so much, and for him to make it easy for us to go out there and do our job, it’s appreciated and I know guys like it.”
Despite those glowing reviews from inside the clubhouse, the Braves still went through a full interview process before announcing Snitker would return. Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported former MLB managers Ron Washington and Bud Black were the other finalists.
Next season will mark the first time Snitker will be a full-time manager in the majors. That said, he’s been with the Braves organization for four decades in a variety of roles, including managing several of the organization’s minor league teams.
The pressure level is beginning to rise in Atlanta, though. The Braves haven’t made the playoffs since 2013 and last won a postseason series in 2001. So they went through a complete retooling process to bolster the system with an eye on a brighter future.
Expectations are on the rise for 2017 as the club moves into its new home, SunTrust Park, which comes at the same time its prized prospects start to arrive. The new wave of talent is led by shortstop Dansby Swanson, who posted a .361 on-base percentage in his first 38 career games this season.
All told, Snitker deserved the opportunity to return as manager given how well the Braves finished, but the honeymoon period won’t last long if Atlanta starts slow next year.
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The Los Angeles Dodgers will be fighting for their lives when they take the field at Dodger Stadium Tuesday afternoon.
After winning Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals, they have dropped the last two and must come up with wins in Games 4 and 5 if they are going to advance to the National League Championship Series.
The Nats rode the power bats of Anthony Rendon and Jayson Werth to record an 8-3 victory in Game 3 in Los Angeles Monday. Rendon hit a two-run home run in the third inning off Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda, while Werth crushed a 450-foot homer off Los Angeles closer Kenley Jansen in the ninth inning.
The Dodgers will either go with Clayton Kershaw or Julio Urias on the mound in this potential elimination game, but the team had not made an official announcement as of Tuesday morning.
Kershaw pitched five innings Friday and was credited with the win in the series opener, but he did not control or dominate the Washington hitters.
Urias is well-rested and quite talented, but he would be getting the start in an elimination game, and it seems likely that manager Dave Roberts will want to go with his best pitcher in such an important game instead of a 20-year-old, relatively untested pitcher.
However, Kershaw spent more than two months on the disabled list this year with a lower-back injury, so the Dodgers may not want to push him on short rest.
“With an elimination game, we still have to win two games,” Roberts said after the loss, per Doug Padilla of ESPN.com. “So the thought of having Julio pitch at home, versus the road is something we’re thinking through, and what gives us the best chance to win two games. And obviously, yeah, you have to win [Tuesday] to win on Thursday.”
The Nationals have not announced their starter, either. It is possible that they could go with Joe Ross (7-5, 3.43 ERA) and save Max Scherzer (20-7, 2.96 ERA) for Game 5—if that scenario is required.
Tuesday’s game will be played at 5:05 p.m. ET and will be televised by Fox Sports 1.
Both the Nationals and Dodgers are still considered underdogs to win the World Series, according to Odds Shark. The Dodgers are +1200 (bet $100 to win $1,200) to be crowned world champions, while the Nationals are +700.
Prediction
There are many variables since neither side has announced its starting pitcher. However, the Dodgers need to win to stay alive, and they will be the more desperate team.
It would take a lot for Roberts not to go with his ace, and the feeling is that Kershaw will get the ball. Kershaw has struggled throughout his postseason career and is not at his best right now, so it may not be the proper time to expect a remarkable effort from him.
That may be the key. While some may see Kershaw as vulnerable, this will be the time that he comes through with a postseason gem. The Dodgers win Game 4 and square the series.
Chicago at San Francisco, Chicago leads series 2-1
It took 13 innings for the San Francisco Giants to get their first victory of the series against the Chicago Cubs, and by winning the third game, manager Bruce Bochy’s team is back in the NLDS.
The Giants rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 5-3 lead into the ninth as a result of a two-run triple by Conor Gillaspie and an RBI single by Brandon Crawford off flame-throwing closer Aroldis Chapman.
With the Giants poised to win, NL MVP candidate Kris Bryant hit a game-tying, two-run homer in the top of the ninth to tie the score at 5-5.
The two teams remained locked up until the bottom of the 13th, when Joe Panik doubled home Crawford with the winning run. The Cubs lead the best-of-five series by a 2-1 margin.
“Just because we’re down, we’re not out,” Panik said after the game, per Janie McCauley of the Associated Press (h/t CBSSports.com). “If we’re breathing, we’re still fighting.”
The Cubs will send John Lackey to the mound Tuesday night at 8:40 p.m. ET against Matt Moore. The game will be televised by Fox Sports 1.
The Cubs remain favored to win the World Series with odds of +210. Chicago is looking for its first World Series title since 1908. The Giants are +1600 underdogs to win the World Series, and they have won three championships since 2010.
Prediction
The Giants succeeded in putting the heat on the Cubs by winning a game in this series in front of their rabid fans.
However, the Cubs won 103 games in the regular season because they were the best team in baseball, and they will have a strong pitcher on the mound in Lackey.
He was 11-8 with a 3.35 ERA this season along with a 1.057 WHIP. Additionally, Lackey has been a part of two World Series-winning teams (2002 Anaheim Angels and 2013 Boston Red Sox), and he should be able to pitch effectively in a closeout game on the road.
Moore was 6-5 this season with a 4.08 ERA and 1.332 WHIP in 12 starts for the Giants. It may be much harder for him to limit Chicago’s offense.
Look for the Cubs to pull away in this game and earn the series victory.
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On a Monday night when Madison Bumgarner was mortal, the San Francisco Giants found a way to stay alive.
Sure, they’re down 2-1 in the best-of-five National League Division Series to the young, potent Chicago Cubs. They’ll face another elimination game Tuesday. A win in that game will only assure a trip back to Chicago for Game 5.
Still, after prevailing 6-5 in 13 innings Monday, the Giants are officially in this. That old, familiar postseason mojo is stirring by the shores of McCovey Cove behind a cast of heroes old and new.
For much of the evening, things looked bleak for San Francisco.
After dropping the first two games of the series at Wrigley Field, the Giants watched Bumgarner—their battle-tested October ace—surrender a three-run homer to Cubs starter Jake Arrieta in the second inning to give Chicago a 3-0 cushion.
Just like that, a pessimistic fog descended on AT&T Park. Maybe this even-year nonsense was finally over.
The Giants, though, chipped away, plating runs in the third and fifth innings. Veteran center fielder Denard Span—playing in his first postseason with San Francisco—doubled, tripled and scored twice.
Then, in the eighth, Conor Gillaspie cracked a two-run triple off flame-throwing Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman to give San Francisco a 4-3 lead.
That’s the same Conor Gillaspie who hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning of the Giants’ 3-0 Wild Card Game win over the New York Mets.
That’s the same Conor Gillaspie the Giants drafted in the first round in 2008, only to watch him drift off to the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels before returning this season in an ancillary role.
The only reason Gillaspie is starting for San Francisco is because regular third baseman Eduardo Nunez tweaked his hamstring.
A wayward former prospect coming up huge for the Giants in October—where have we heard that one before?
Oh, right.
Brandon Crawford added an RBI single in the eighth Monday to make it 5-3. But the Cubs’ Kris Bryant launched a two-run homer off Giants closer Sergio Romo in the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
After that, it was a battle of the bullpens. While San Francisco’s pen was a source of angst and inconsistency down the stretch, Giants relievers rallied.
Romo rebounded to record a scoreless 10th, lefty Will Smith logged an uneventful frame and rookie Ty Blach tossed two shutout innings.
Blach earned the win thanks to second baseman Joe Panik’s walk-off double off the bricks in right-center field.
After more than five hours, the Giants could finally celebrate. They are now 10-0 in elimination games dating back to 2010.
“Every year is a different year. It’s definitely not an ideal situation,” right fielder Hunter Pence said prior to Monday’s action, per NBC Bay Area’s Brendan Weber. “We understand the situation. Our backs are against the wall.”
That hasn’t changed. One win, even a dramatic one, doesn’t reverse the Giants’ uphill struggle against a deep, dangerous Chicago club.
But Game 3 recaptured the magic that defined San Francisco’s 2010, 2012 and 2014 title runs—the inescapable sense the Giants were always in it, no matter the circumstances.
Even with Bumgarner wobbling, familiar names chipped in.
Buster Posey went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Steady skipper Bruce Bochy pulled the right levers, expertly managing his bullpen while his counterpart, bespectacled media darling Joe Maddon, burned through relievers and was left with few options as the night wore on.
But it was the relative newbies—including Gillaspie, Span and Blach—who kept the Giants kicking.
As Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle noted, Gillaspie has gone from “a crazy postseason novelty” to “a full-blown legend.”
On Tuesday, another new face will look to contribute, as trade-deadline pickup Matt Moore takes the hill against the Cubs’ John Lackey.
For now, San Francisco can bask in the glory of a vintage playoff performance.
We don’t know if the even-year shenanigans will continue, but we do know the Giants will troll the baseball world for another day at least.
This team never dies. Which means, by definition, they’re alive.
All statistics and results current as of Monday and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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If the San Francisco Giants continue their even-year magic in 2016, they will likely look back on Monday as one of the craziest games in their journey.
The 2010, 2012 and 2014 World Series champions kept their dreams alive with a 6-5 victory over the Chicago Cubs in a 13-inning thriller at AT&T Park. Chicago still leads the National League Division Series 2-1, but Joe Panik played the role of hero with a game-winning blast off the wall that scored Brandon Crawford.
Fox Sports MLB pointed out that the Giants are nearly impossible to eliminate with their backs against the wall:
There were plenty of heroics to go around outside of Panik’s game-winner. Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant connected with a two-run homer in the ninth off Giants closer Sergio Romo with his team trailing 5-3 to force the marathon extra innings.
ESPN Stats & Info noted the blown save was nothing new for San Francisco:
The Cubs likely would have won in nine were it not for another clutch performance from Conor Gillaspie. He drilled a home run in his team’s National League Wild Card Game victory over the New York Mets and saved San Francisco’s season with a two-RBI triple against Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning.
Chicago held a narrow 3-2 lead at the time, but Gillaspie drove the ball to plate both runners. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports noted how unlikely the moment was on the marquee stage:
Perhaps the most surprising thing was the fact that Madison Bumgarner was not the one who served as the postseason hero in Game 3. The southpaw started the game and allowed three earned runs and seven hits in just five innings and didn’t resemble the clutch performer who earned a shutout win in the Wild Card Game and won the 2014 World Series MVP.
The three runs he allowed came off a Jake Arrieta three-run homer in the second inning.
Chicago’s starter was solid on the mound as well and allowed two earned runs and struck out five in six innings of work. He did enough to win, but Chapman, Hector Rondon and Travis Wood couldn’t lock it down in the fateful eighth.
The Cubs wasted little time getting to Bumgarner when Arrieta hit that home run. Ryan Baker of CBS Chicago said it snapped Bumgarner’s streak of 24 scoreless postseason innings, while Amy Lawrence of CBS Sports Radio noted it was the first time the Giants southpaw allowed a single earned run in a playoff elimination game.
Chicago received two RBI from Kyle Hendricks and a solo homer from Wood in Game 2, and ESPN Stats & Info underscored how effective the pitchers have been at the plate:
The Cubs threatened again in the third with runners on the corner and a single out, but Bumgarner struck out Javier Baez and retired Miguel Montero. He kept the Giants within striking distance early by escaping trouble, and his offense rewarded him in the bottom of the frame when Denard Span doubled and scored on a Buster Posey single.
While the Giants still found themselves behind, Bumgarner settled in after a slow start and kept Chicago at three runs through five innings. His pitch count was elevated to 101, and manager Bruce Bochy elected to pinch hit Eduardo Nunez in the pitcher’s spot to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
Nunez grounded out, but the top of the San Francisco order did some damage. Span tripled and scored on Brandon Belt’s sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Arrieta bounced back and worked a 1-2-3 sixth, but he received some help on Baez’s spectacular backhanded play to retire Gillaspie. Anthony Rizzo’s foot appeared to come off the base on the throw, but the call stood after review.
Jonah Keri of CBS Sports described the sequence:
Despite the call, Derek Law kept the Giants within a single run with two scoreless innings, and Hunter Strickland added a shutout eighth for San Francisco and positioned it for the dramatic comeback.
Pedro Strop countered with two quick outs as the first Chicago reliever in the seventh. However, Wood allowed a single to Belt in the eighth, and Rondon walked Posey before Maddon turned to Chapman with two runners on and nobody out.
The fireballer struck out Hunter Pence but gave up the bases-clearing triple to Gillaspie and an RBI single to Crawford. By the time Chapman left the game, the Giants had a 5-3 lead and runners on the corners with just one out.
Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago raised an interesting point after Chapman’s struggles:
Justin Grimm kept the score at 5-3, which proved critical when Bryant connected with his game-tying homer. ESPN Stats & Info highlighted just how close the long ball was to not making it over the fence:
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports joked it was unusual to see a Chicago hitter outside of the pitchers come through at the plate:
Mike Montgomery forced extras with a scoreless ninth, but it only happened when Albert Almora Jr. made a diving stop on Posey’s sinking line drive and doubled off Belt from first base.
Romo redeemed himself with a perfect 10th that included two strikeouts, but Montgomery matched him and pushed the back-and-forth affair to the 11th. The Cubs offense couldn’t do anything against Will Smith or Ty Blach in the 11th and 12th, but Montgomery continued to shut down the Giants and extend the contest.
Chicago threatened in the 13th with two runners on, but David Ross grounded into a double play.
Montgomery’s scoreless streak came to an end in his fifth inning, as Crawford doubled and scored on Panik’s blast to keep San Francisco’s season alive.
Game 4 is Tuesday in San Francisco.
The Giants have a chance to tie the series and send it back to Chicago for a do-or-die Game 5, where Johnny Cueto will likely start with Bumgarner as a possible option out of the bullpen. The Cubs will want to attack Matt Moore in Game 4 to avoid that scenario and will counter with veteran John Lackey.
Lackey has 23 postseason appearances under his belt and a solid 3.11 ERA in those games, but this will be his first in a Chicago uniform. If he turns in a noteworthy performance, the Cubs will find themselves in the National League Championship Series.
Although things looked bleak for the Giants at various points throughout Game 3, especially when Chicago tied it in the ninth, Panik discussed the team’s never-say-die attitude following the crucial victory, according to ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon: “If we’re breathing, we’re still fighting.”
The Giants have been unbeatable in elimination games over the past several years, and Arrieta is well aware that it will take a massive effort to oust them, per MLB.com’s Chris Haft and Carrie Muskat: “This is October baseball. We know games are going to be very closely contested. [The Giants] are no slouch with their pedigree in the playoffs. We have our work cut out for us.”
While the loss was a disappointing one for a Cubs team that is trying to exorcise more than a century of postseason demons, Maddon remained upbeat following the defeat, according to David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune: “Both sides should be somewhat exhilarated There’s nothing on our side to be ashamed of.”
Bochy also had a positive outlook on the game and was impressed with the manner in which his team dug deep to come out on top, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle: “It was one of the best, most exciting games I’ve ever been involved in. They found a way. The game had everything: pitching, timely hitting on both sides. It was just a fun game to be involved with.”
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He was supposed to be wiping champagne from his eyes, rather than tears.
It was supposed to end that way for David Ortiz. Not this way.
That’s what I thought. That’s what we all thought.
But it did end this way Monday night at Fenway Park. It ended with the Cleveland Indians celebrating a sweep of Ortiz’s Boston Red Sox and the Fenway fans celebrating Ortiz’s career one more time.
“Pa-pi! Pa-pi!” they chanted in the eighth inning as Ortiz left for a pinch runner in the middle of a rally that seemed destined to send this American League Division Series into Tuesday and beyond.
“Pa-pi! Pa-pi!” they chanted again after that rally and a ninth-inning rally fell short, as the Indians charged onto the field at the end of a thrilling 4-3 Game 3 win.
Ortiz was already gone by then, up the tunnel to the Red Sox clubhouse the moment the final out settled into Lonnie Chisenhall’s glove in right field. He returned a few minutes later, walking alone to the Fenway mound, acknowledging the cheers from fans who had to be disappointed but were not devastated.
Ortiz was responsible for some of each emotion, because his 1-for-9 in the series contributed to the Boston power outage that sent him home earlier than expected. But no one in New England can feel devastated, for the simple reason that Ortiz’s 14-year Red Sox career forever changed the way we will think of this franchise.
He arrived in 2003, when the Curse of the Bambino was in full force. He leaves with the curse a distant memory, with three World Series rings and too many big moments to mention.
He leaves a team that is in fine shape for the future, with a lineup filled with great young talent and even more on the way. Ortiz was an MVP candidate at age 40 in his fantastic final season, but the likelier winner is Mookie Betts, the superb right fielder who turned 24 on Friday.
Betts, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi and Jackie Bradley Jr. couldn’t deliver enough for Ortiz against the Indians, and 21-year-old Yoan Moncada proved in September that he wasn’t yet ready to give the Red Sox another spark.
But the franchise is in good hands, and it’s no shame to lose a best-of-five series to an Indians team that now becomes the favorite to go to the World Series and try to end its own championship drought.
“They played unbelievable baseball, and that’s what the game is all about,” Ortiz said at a press conference.
He congratulated Terry Francona, the manager who won the first two of those three World Series crowns with Ortiz in Boston and has now turned the Indians franchise around.
We’re shortchanging Francona and his team with all this Papi focus, but if I know Tito, he’ll understand and won’t mind. He knows what Ortiz meant to Boston and baseball, and he could feel as well as anyone how much Monday’s game was about the iconic Red Sox star.
It was that way with each at-bat, with everyone understanding this could be Ortiz’s final game. It was that way in the sixth inning, when Ortiz’s sacrifice fly cut the Indians’ lead to 4-2. It was that way even more in the eighth, when Ortiz came to the plate representing the tying run.
Francona went to closer Cody Allen, and Allen didn’t throw Ortiz a single strike. Ortiz walked to first base and waved his arms to ask the fans for more noise. When Hanley Ramirez followed with a single that made it 4-3, Red Sox manager John Farrell had no choice but to pinch run for Ortiz at second base.
He left to cheers and chants, and then he stood on the top step of the dugout, a cheerleader for the rest of this game and perhaps the rest of his life.
He wanted it to go on, but it wasn’t to be.
“What [the Indians] did to us, we were expecting to do to them, because we thought we were the best team,” Ortiz said. “In the playoffs, it’s not about the best, it’s about who played the best. And they played the best.”
So often, it was Ortiz who played the best in October. In 85 postseason games, he drove in 61 runs, tied with his longtime rival Derek Jeter for the fourth most of all time (behind Bernie Williams, Manny Ramirez and David Justice).
Ortiz was the Most Valuable Player of the famous 2004 American League Championship Series against Jeter’s New York Yankees, and also of the 2013 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. His grand slam in the 2013 ALCS against the Detroit Tigers stands as one of the most dramatic moments in recent baseball history.
There was nothing like that in this series, not for him and not for the Red Sox. But there was a moment, and it came when Ortiz walked to the mound after it was over.
He had already spoken to his teammates, telling them they should be proud of their worst-to-first season and optimistic about their future. He walked to the field with cameras all around him, and he went to the mound with the realization this really was going to be it.
“I’ve been trying to hold my emotions,” he said. “At that last second, I couldn’t hold it anymore.”
He’ll be back at Fenway for sure, back to see friends and back for a number retirement ceremony sometime in the future. But as he walked off the field wiping away a tear, he knew he wouldn’t ever be back as an active player.
There’s sadness in that, for sure. He loved playing, and even many who don’t care a bit about the Red Sox loved watching him play.
But imagine the sadness this sweep would have brought in the days before Ortiz first wore a Red Sox uniform. In his 14 seasons, a curse was reversed and a franchise was changed.
If this was the way it had to end, that will have to be just fine.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
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Although the season didn’t end as planned, the Boston Red Sox enjoyed a fantastic 2016 campaign, with one of the highlights being a high-powered offense that provided three players with 30 or more home runs and 100 or more RBI for the first time in franchise history, per MLB Stat of the Day.
Doing the honors were outfielder Mookie Betts, designated hitter David Ortiz and first baseman Hanley Ramirez, all of whom enjoyed fascinating season for entirely different reasons.
The 24-year-old Betts had a breakout campaign that places him among the American League MVP favorites, finishing with a .318 batting average, 31 homers, 26 stolen bases, 113 RBI and 122 runs—one of the more well-rounded stat lines you’ll ever see, in addition to play solid defense.
Ortiz, 40 years old and on the opposite end of the career spectrum, announced his impending retirement prior to the season and then proved that he’s still good enough to play a couple more years, though he made it clear he has no such intention.
Then there was 32-year-old Ramirez, who disappointed tremendously last year in his first season with the Red Sox but finally came on strong in the second half of 2016, ultimately having a fantastic campaign while successfully making a position switch to first base.
Of course, the ultimate goal was a World Series, and on that account the Red Sox fell short, getting swept in the ALDS by the Cleveland Indians.
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The Washington Nationals own a 2-1 lead in their National League Division Series after an 8-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
Nationals left fielder Jayson Werth delivered in a big way, going 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and two runs scored.
Werth and the Washington offense delivered as starter Gio Gonzalez lasted only 4.1 innings. The veteran left-hander exited after surrendering three earned runs on four hits and one walk. He struck out four.
Dodgers starter Kenta Maeda struggled in the first postseason start of his MLB career. Over three innings, he allowed four earned runs on five hits, two walks and a hit batter while striking out four.
Command was an issue for Maeda, who threw 63 pitches. The Los Angeles Times‘ Andy McCullough opined that home plate umpire Ron Kulpa squeezed the strike zone:
The game began brightly for the Dodgers.
For the third contest in a row, rookie shortstop Corey Seager drove in the first run of the game. After homering in Games 1 and 2, he doubled to right-center field to plate third baseman Justin Turner.
MLB Network shared a replay of the extra-base hit:
The McCovey Chronicles’ Grant Brisbee isn’t looking forward to seeing Seager in the National League West for the foreseeable future:
Maeda averted damage in the first inning, striking out Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman with the bases loaded and two outs. In the third, the rookie right-hander wasn’t so lucky, as Washington scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead.
Center fielder Trea Turner led off with a single to center, and Werth doubled into the right field corner to get the Nationals on the board. The New York Times‘ James Wagner thought Turner showed tremendous speed by scoring from first base:
After second baseman Daniel Murphy flied out, right fielder Bryce Harper scored Werth with a single to right. Third baseman Anthony Rendon then stepped to the plate and hammered a fastball over the left-center field wall.
MLB Network provided a second look at the homer:
MLB.com’s Daren Willman showed Maeda couldn’t have done a worse job placing the two-seamer:
In the bottom of the fifth, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts opted to use Carlos Ruiz to pinch hit for reliever Pedro Baez, who had replaced Maeda to start the fourth. In 14 regular-season games with Los Angeles after being traded by the Philadelphia Phillies, Ruiz didn’t hit a single home run and slugged .333.
After the August deal, Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported the Dodgers thought Ruiz could strengthen their lineup against left-handed pitching. The 37-year-old justified the trade when he hit a two-run home run to bring Los Angeles within a run.
According to ESPN Stats & Info, it was the Dodgers’ first pinch-hit homer in a postseason home game since Kirk Gibson’s walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
The drive jolted the crowd, and the Los Angeles Times‘ Lindsey Thiry shared a clip of the fans’ reaction:
Sammy Solis replaced Gonzalez and quieted the crowd a bit when he got left fielder Howie Kendrick to ground out to second. After Justin Turner walked, Seager brought the fans to their feet with a long fly ball to center field, but it was well short of the wall and landed in the glove of Trea Turner.
The trio of Solis, Oliver Perez and Shawn Kelley did well to shut down the Dodgers offense, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out five over 3.2 innings.
In the top of the ninth, Werth put another run on the board for Washington with a solo homer to left field.
NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano noted Werth joined elite company with the homer:
It was a surprising misstep by Los Angeles closer Kenley Jansen, who surrendered only four home runs in 68.2 innings during the regular season.
The trouble continued for Jansen, as he walked Murphy and hit Harper. Rendon then popped out, but Zimmerman followed with a two-run double to right field and moved to third when second baseman Chase Utley tried to throw Harper out at home.
ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield pointed out Jansen faltered in high-pressure moments this year:
Ross Stripling took over for Jansen and surrendered a sacrifice fly to pinch hitter Chris Heisey to make it an 8-3 game. It was the fourth run charged to Jansen. Rarely has the 29-year-old unraveled to such an extent, per Fox Sports’ C.J. Nitkowski:
The five-run lead was more than enough for Nationals closer Mark Melancon, who retired the Dodgers in order to end the game.
Julio Urias is scheduled to pitch for Los Angeles in Game 4, though McCullough reported Sunday that ace Clayton Kershaw, who won Game 1, could start. MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick added more information Monday:
Ideally, the Dodgers would hold Kershaw back so he can pitch Game 5 on Thursday with five days’ rest.
But Los Angeles has to win Game 4 on Tuesday in order to get there, so Roberts may not want to leave his best pitcher on the bench in a must-win situation. In addition, relying on a 20-year-old rookie in a critical playoff game could be risky—though Urias was 5-2 with a 3.17 FIP in the regular season, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
Roberts has a difficult decision on his hands as he looks to keep the Dodgers alive.
Werth said the continuity of Washington’s roster is paying dividends in the postseason, per Gurnick and Jamal Collier of MLB.com:
We’re a resilient club. We’ve got a good group of guys. The nucleus of this club has been together a long time. We’ve got a lot of chemistry and all that stuff, but we’ve been doing it for years over here. We’ve come from behind to win a lot of games. We’ve been one of the game’s best teams the past four or five years as far as wins go. So we know how to play, how to win. I like our chances.
Roberts declined to name a starter for Game 4.
“The use of the pen today, no off day tomorrow, those are things we’re going to keep in mind,” he said, according to Jon Weisman of Dodger Insider.
Gurnick reported Roberts is unsure about starting Kershaw in Game 4 because he’d then have to use Urias on the road in Game 5.
Nationals manager Dusty Baker said his starter for Game 4 will be either Joe Ross or Reynaldo Lopez, per Collier.
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It took a little more than five hours, but the San Francisco Giants managed to hold off elimination for at least one night.
Joe Panik’s double off the right field wall in the bottom of the 13th scored Brandon Crawford, who had doubled to lead off the inning, to give the Giants a 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs in a game that saw both teams rally late to force extra innings.
The Cubs, who won the first two games of the National League Division Series in Chicago, led 3-0 thanks to a three-run home run in the second from starting pitcher Jake Arrieta coming off Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner lasted only five innings, while Arrieta was out after six while giving up single runs in the third and fifth.
It stayed that way until the eighth when, after the Cubs turned to closer Aroldis Chapman for a six-out save, Conor Gillaspie sparked a three-run inning with a two-run triple to go up 5-3.
The Cubs tied it in the ninth on Kris Bryant’s two-run homer off SF closer Sergio Romo, then it was a scoreless battle until the 13th.
Game 4 is set for 8:30 p.m. ET in San Francisco, with Matt Moore going for the Giants against Chicago’s Jon Lackey.
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There was maximum tension in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Boston Red Sox twice stayed alive with two outs and two strikes, but they could not push the tying run home, and the Cleveland Indians emerged with a 4-3 victory to sweep their American League Division Series.
Travis Shaw popped out to right field on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and Lonnie Chisenhall settled under the ball to seal the Indians’ victory.
Cleveland swept the series in three games, winning the first two at Progressive Field before securing the final contest at Fenway Park.
Indians manager Terry Francona beat the team he led to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007 before he was fired after the 2011 season.
Josh Tomlin earned the win for Cleveland, while Clay Buchholz took the loss.
Former Red Sox Coco Crisp hit a two-run homer, and that hit proved decisive.
The Indians will face the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series.
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