The Braves last won a playoff round in 2001, when they swept Houston in the NLDS. With historic homers from Ronald Acuna and Freddie Freeman have lived to fight another game. Here are some things to know about the Game 3 dramatics against the Los Angeles Dodgers that led to today’s Game 4 at SunTrust Park (4:30 p.m., FS1):
Slamming!
20-year-old Acuna became the youngest player in baseball history to hit a grand slam in a postseason game. Acuna's slam - the first of his career - came on a 3-1, second-inning pitch from Walker Buehler. It was the seventh postseason grand slam by a Braves player and the first since Adam LaRoche hit one in Game 4 of the 2005 NLDS at Houston.
Fantastic Freeman
Freeman hit his first career postseason homer in a sixth inning at-bat off former teammate Alex Wood. Freeman is now batting .309 (63-for-204) against lefties this season, the second-best mark among left-handed hitters.
The dinger gave the Braves a 6-5 lead and was the latest go-ahead postseason home run by a Braves player since 2010, when Brian McCann hit a solo home run off Madison Bumgarner to break a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning of Game 4 of the NLDS.
Freeman, who went 1-for-4, has hit safely in seven of his eight career postseason games.
Rookie record
Touki Toussaint, 22, threw a scoreless sixth inning, earning the Game 3 win.
He became the first Braves rookie to earn a postseason win since John Rocker was credited with the win in Game 5 of the 1998 Championship Series at San Diego.
Big bop
The Braves scored five runs in the second inning Sunday, their highest scoring inning in the playoffs since October 5, 2002, when they also scored five runs in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the NLDS at San Francisco.
Stretching the series
With Sunday's win, the Braves forced Game 4 today at SunTrust Park (4:30 p.m., FS1). Game 1 starter Mike Foltynewicz returns to pitch Game 4.
Down 2-1 in the best-of-five series, Atlanta faces a steep challenge.Only 10 teams — since divisional series play began in 1995 — have managed to advance after falling into an 0-2 hole.
The Braves are not one of those teams. Including best-of-seven series, the Braves have never come back from a 0-2 hole. They are 0-6. Over their last 43 meetings, the Braves have won three consecutive games over the Dodgers just once (July 2015).
