Braves again facing tall odds after Game 3 loss, which won’t faze them

Well, that’s not how it was supposed to happen.

The fully rested ace on his own mound. The challenger buffeted by the momentum of a spirited win. A sellout crowd urging on the home team. The delicious potential to slam the door on the series with two wins.

However, after an unlikely undoing in the top of the fourth inning and an inability to sufficiently counter, the Braves are facing elimination from the National League Division Series after their 3-1 loss in Game 3 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night at Truist Park.

Wind at their sails after beating the Dodgers in Sunday’s Game 2 in Dodger Stadium behind opener par excellence Ray Kerr and flame-throwing reliever Didier Fuentes, they’re now down 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

But should anyone have ever expected the Braves to do anything but have to take the harder path?

They lost their designated hitter in spring training to a PED suspension, saw a rotation’s worth of starters go down with an assortment of injuries, lost key starting players to the injury list and were among the majors’ worst-hitting teams for two separate months.

Their logo should be a hurdle.

And yet, they finished the season with the NL East division title and the fourth-best record in the majors.

And so when they had the chance to go up two games to one and tighten the screws on the two-time defending World Series champions — and had ace Chris Sale going for them on full rest — perhaps it was just too rich a meal.

Sale had one of his worst outings of the season and his teammates could not solve Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

It was a deflating night for Braves fans ready to help pull the indomitable Sale to victory. But, improbably, he was unequal to the task.

In a scoreless game in the top of the fourth after getting through the first three, he gave up home runs to Enrique Hernández and Freddie Freeman, the former a two-run blast and the latter a solo job.

How improbable?

It was the first time in his three-season Braves career that Sale had given up two home runs in a single inning.

And Freeman nearly homered in the third but was robbed at the left-field fence by Mauricio Dubón.

They were three of eight balls that the Dodgers put in play off Sale with exit velocities of 100 mph or more. It was the first time Sale had allowed that many 100 mph EVs in a game since 2017 (also a division series game, ironically).

It was such a jarring turn that the Braves radio broadcast crew wondered if the Dodgers had picked up a tell on Sale.

“He’s human,” third baseman Austin Riley told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He’s been unbelievably valuable for us this year. We’ve got to score runs, too.”

To win the series, they’ll now have to beat the Dodgers on Wednesday night in Game 4 at Truist and then fly back to Los Angeles to win Game 5 on Friday at Dodger Stadium.

Wednesday may be where the road ends.

But no one should be surprised if the Braves find a way.

This is who they have proven themselves to be. And, with their backs against the wall, they could be again.

“We’ve dealt with this a lot this year,” Riley said. “We’re going to be up for the challenge.”

Even this postseason alone, they’ve demonstrated their pluck, winning Game 3 against Philadelphia in the NL Wild Card Series with Sale coming in from the bullpen as though riding on a white horse and Game 2 of the NLDS with a bullpen game opened effectively by former 7-Eleven employee Ray Kerr.

After the Braves finished off Philadelphia, I asked manager Walt Weiss if his team’s grit and ability to overcome could lift them to the top.

“I think that’s what’s carrying us now,” he said. “Really, really. I can say that about the entire season.”

Wednesday starter Tyler Mahle has been ace-like since getting traded to the Braves at the trade deadline with an ERA of 1.91 ERA in 10 starts, including his masterful start against the Phillies in the NL Wild Card Series. Notably, he didn’t allow a run in two starts against the Dodgers this season and 2025 with a WHIP of .714.

“Just made good pitches at the right times and not trying to do too much,” Mahle said before Tuesday’s game of those two starts. “It’s a good lineup. If you make a bunch of mistakes, they’re going to really hurt you. So you’ve got to stay in your lane and make pitches.”

And then in a potential Game 5, Weiss could turn again to a bullpen game with Kerr, Grant Holmes and Didier Fuentes.