Braves Win As MLB Fans Return
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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Austin Riley led off the ninth inning with a tiebreaking homer that sparked a four-run outburst, and the Atlanta Braves opened their first National League Championship Series since 2001 with a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
Riley, the No. 9 batter in the Braves lineup, hit a 448-drive to left-center off Blake Treinen, who had just entered the game, drawing a loud reaction and some tomahawk-chop chants from the first fans allowed to attend a major league game this season.
The Braves weren't done after Riley's homer made it 2-1. Ronald Acuna Jr. followed with a double and scored on a single by Marcell Ozuna that chased Treinen before Ozzie Albies' two-run homer off Jake McGee.
In a matchup of teams that ranked 1-2 in the majors during the regular season for both runs and homers, and in the first NLCS opener since 2007 with both teams undefeated in the postseason, the Braves had another impressive pitching performance even without a shutout.
Will Smith, the third Braves pitcher, worked a perfect eighth before Mark Melancon closed it out.
Atlanta has allowed a total of six runs while winning all six of its playoff games.
Before the ninth, the only runs had been a pair of solo homers. Freddie Freeman went deep for Atlanta in the first and Kike Hernandez led off the Dodgers fifth with a homer.
Game 2 is Tuesday night, with Braves rookie Ian Anderson set to face three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw.
It was the first time since March 12, the day spring training was suspended because of the coronavirus, there were fans in the stands for an MLB game.
All 10,700 tickets available to the general public were sold, in addition to another 800 or so utilized by the league and teams. That was about 28% of the 40,518 capacity at the new Texas Rangers ballpark where the retractable roof was open for the first NLCS game played at a neutral site.
The Braves had the bases loaded in the eighth after reliever Dustin May hit pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval with a pitch. Victor Gonzalez came on and struck out pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson, punctuating the inning-ending out with an emphatic fist pump on the way back to the dugout.
Dodgers starter Walker Buehler pitched past the fourth inning for the first time in his three playoff series openers this fall, while apparently now dealing with blisters on both his middle and index fingers and with his seemingly tight pants trending on Twitter.
Buehler struck out seven in his five-plus innings, joining Hall of Famer pitcher Randy Johnson as the only ones with at least seven strikeouts in nine consecutive postseason starts -- coming in the first nine for Buehler. He also walked five, a career high in a regular-season or playoff game.
Max Fried had nine strikeouts and two walks while allowing one run over six innings in his start, two years after pitching in relief for the Braves in every game of the 2018 NL Division Series when they lost to Los Angeles in four games.
The left-hander was born in Santa Monica, went to high school in Los Angeles and was the seventh overall pick by the San Diego Padres in 2012, two years before he got traded to Atlanta.
There were chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P!" when Freeman homered in the top of the first -- a 429-foot solo shot to right that landed among fans well beyond the roped-off first five rows closest to the field. It was his first homer this postseason.
While the Braves had the five walks against Buehler, they didn't have another hit until consecutive singles opening the sixth that chased the starter. Busdar Graterol got pot of the jam with a popout, strikeout and comebacker.
Hernandez got his first start this postseason with the Braves starting a lefty, and tied the game 1-1 when he pulled a homer to left leading off the fifth. Hernandez, 0 for 6 in the playoffs until then, was the first player to homer on a curveball by Fried since Bryce Harper on Sept. 10, 2019.
Fried induced 14 swings and misses, his second-most in any game this season -- including his 11 starts in the regular season when he was 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Braves: LF Adam Duvall left in the middle of his at-bat in the second inning because of an oblique issue. Duvall was in obvious pain after fouling off a pitch, then had his hand on his left side. Cristian Pache took over with a 1-2 count and drew a walk.
SHORT HOPS
It was the fourth time overall that both teams entered Game 1 of the NLCS without a postseason loss. That has happened three times in the ALCS, all in the past 11 years. … With starters Buehler and Fried both 26, it was only the seventh league championship series opener with two pitchers 26 and younger. The last was Game 1 of the 2012 NLCS, when Lance Lynn, who now calls the Texas ballpark home, started for St. Louis against San Francisco and Madison Bumgarner. … This is the first NLCS matchup since 2010 with team from the NL West playing a team from the NL East.
REMEMBERING JOE MORGAN
There was a moment of silence before the game for Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan, the sparkplug of Cincinnati's Big Red Machine in the mid-1970s. Morgan died Sunday at age 77. Morgan played in the NLCS seven times, for the Reds (1972-73 and 1975-76), Houston (1980) and Philadelphia (1983).
UP NEXT
Anderson has thrown 11 2/3 scoreless innings with 17 strikeouts in his two playoff starts. The Dodgers counter with Kershaw, the lefty from nearby Dallas who has 19 strikeouts in his two starts this postseason -- both wins. He pitched eight scoreless innings against Atlanta in the NLDS two years ago.
RAYS 4, ASTROS 2
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Back in the ballpark where he started his big league career, Manuel Margot of the Tampa Bay Rays had a breakout game in the AL Championship Series with a three-run home run and a spectacular catch while tumbling over a wall in right field.
Asked which was bigger in the victory against the Houston Astros, Margot said through a translator: "Definitely the home run. The home run didn't hurt."
The home run was huge, for sure, because it helped the Rays get halfway to the World Series with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
But they'll be talking about the catch for a long time.
With two outs in the second and runners on second and third, Margot tracked George Springer's long foul ball to right field while shielding his face from the sun. He caught it as he tumbled over a padded railing atop a wall and landed on a walkway near the seats down the line at Petco Park.
Margot popped up, smiled and held up his glove with the ball in it after a 102-foot sprint.
Margot was shaken up a little but stayed in the game.
"Approaching it you don't really realize how high it is but it gets a little lower once you go over the wall, so once I actually started to flip and realized it was a little bit further of a drop, that's when I got a little scared," Margot said.
Margot played with the San Diego Padres from late in the 2016 season until being traded to Tampa Bay in the offseason. He played one game in right field in 2016 and the rest of his time in San Diego was spent in center.
"To have the ability to know where you're at, and kind of be able to say, 'Forget it, I know I'm going to hit something but I'm going in,' and still hang on to the ball, was really, really impressive," manager Kevin Cash said.
His teammates raved about the catch.
"He sold out," winner Charlie Morton said. "Those guys are all in for each other and they put their bodies on the line. They've been doing that all year. That play was unbelievable."
Shortstop Willy Adames said Margot "was going with determination. He was going to do whatever it took to make that catch. It was an unbelievable play that he made on the right field line, putting himself in a dangerous place. I'm just happy for him, after that homer. It was amazing. I hope he continues to help the team win like that."
Margot homered to straightaway center field on an 0-1 pitch from McCullers with two outs in the first. It followed the first of two errors by second baseman Jose Altuve on a grounder to shallow right field by Ji-Man Choi. Altuve's throw hit the ground before going in and out of first baseman Yuli Gurriel's glove.
The play originally was ruled an error on Gurriel, but the official scorer later charged the error to Altuve. When Gurriel returned to the dugout, he slammed his glove onto the bench.
Margot's big plays made a winner of 36-year-old Morton, who helped Houston win the 2017 World Series, and spoiled an otherwise fine effort by McCullers, who lost despite striking out 11 in seven innings. Three of the four runs off him were unearned.
Margot had a rough regular season. He was placed on the COVID-19 injured list in August as a precaution after he traveled to the Dominican Republic following the death of his father due to the virus.
"He's been put through the ringer along with other family members, but we've turned him into our family," Cash said. "Everybody is really, really supportive of him and just so happy for what he's accomplished."
Morton improved to 4-0 with a 0.90 ERA in the last two postseasons.
Tampa Bay held on through a tense ninth, when Nick Anderson twice loaded the bases. One run scored when Springer hit a one-hopper to second baseman Brandon Lowe, who stepped on the base and started a double play. After walking Altuve and Michael Brantley on four pitches each, Anderson got Alex Bregman to fly out on the first pitch to center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, a step in front of the warning track.
Game 3 is Tuesday night, when the Rays will send Ryan Yarbrough against Houston's Jose Urquidy. Because this is a neutral site, the Rays, the top seed in the AL, were the home team in the first two games and Houston will bat last in Games 3 and 4, and Game 5, if necessary.
Teams with 2-0 leads have won 72 of 85 best-of-7 series.
"It's not business as usual. Tomorrow is a must-win situation for us," said Carlos Correa, who homered for the Astros. "You don't want to be down 0-3 in a series with a great team like the Rays."
Said manager Dusty Baker: "It's very frustrating, because all you hear it exit speed, and we had a ton of exit speed today."
McCullers retired 14 straight, nine by strikeout, before Mike Zunino hit a 454-foot homer into the back bullpen beyond the fence in left-center for a 4-1 lead in the seventh. It was his third this postseason.
Houston's Carlos Correa homered to nearly the same spot off Pete Fairbanks with one out in the sixth, his fifth of the postseason.
The Astros are in the ALCS for the fourth straight year and are trying to get to the World Series for the third time in that span. The Rays have been to one Fall Classic. They lost to Philadelphia in 2008.
Morton, who signed with Tampa Bay before the 2019 season, allowed five hits in five shutout innings. He struck out five and walked one.
McCullers allowed four hits and four runs, one earned, and walked none.
"I feel like we've been playing good baseball. We just haven't got those hits. There were a lot of hard-hit balls today right at people," Correa said. "Their defense is winning ballgames for them right now."
NICE PLAY
Besides Margot's spectacular catch, Adames made a nice sliding backhanded stop of a grounder by Bregman in the third and threw to first baseman Ji-Man Choi, who stretched out to catch it.
UP NEXT
Rays: Yarbrough will be making his first career postseason start. In Game 4 of the ALDS against the Yankees, he went five innings for the longest relief appearance in Rays postseason history. He allowed a two-run homer to Gleyber Torres.
Astros: Urquidy started Houston's Game 3 loss to Oakland in the ALDS, giving up four runs and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. That should line up Zack Greinke to start Game 4, although Baker wasn't ready to commit to that on Monday. Greinke has had a sore arm.