Braves Get to Dodger Bullpen in Eleventh for Walk-Off Win

Dodgers 3 9 1

Braves 4 10 1

F/11

WP- Venters (5-3)

LP- League (0-6)

HR- Jones (13), Ethier (12)

The Dodgers sure let a gem pitched by Chris Capuano get away tonight. The Braves, who were 20 games over .500 going into the game, came back to win in walk-off style in the bottom half of the eleventh inning. The Braves bullpen is noticeably better than the Dodger pen. They have quite a few effective lefties, and their closer Kimbrel throws 100-mph. The Braves lineup is chalk full of power as well. Chipper Jones showed Capuano that the retiring 19-year veteran can still hit when he went deep for his 13th homerun of his final season. Andre Ethier finally hit a homerun, a two-run shot, which gave the Dodgers the momentary lead. Capuano deserved a win, but Ronald Belisario couldn’t preserve the lead as the Braves tied it up in the eighth. The Dodger bullpen tried to stall the inevitable, but the Braves finally got to Brandon League and Jamey Wright in the bottom of the eleventh. Juan Francisco‘s two-out hit won it for Chipper’s Braves.

Tommy Hanson strikes out Shane Victorino for the first out of the game at Turner Field. Mark Ellis grounds out, and Matt Kemp flies out as the Dodgers go down in order.

Michael Bourne bunt pops out to Matt Treanor in foul territory to lead-off the bottom of the first. Martin Prado grounds out, and Jason Heyward strikes out. Chris Capuano only needs seven pitches to retire the side.

Andre Ethier, Hanley Ramirez, and James Loney all make out consecutively in the second inning.

Chipper Jones leads off with a predictable solo homerun in the bottom of the second inning, and the Braves jump ahead 1-0. Cappy comes back and whiffs Freddie Freeman and Dan Uggla. David Ross flies out to end the inning.

Luis Cruz draws a lead-off walk in the third. Matt Treanor strikes out swinging. Cappy executes a successful sacrifice which moves Cruz over to second. Victorino flies out, and the runner is stranded.

Paul Janish  leads off the bottom of the third with a single. Tommy Hanson sacrifices Janish to second. Bourn walks. Prado flies out. Heyward strikes out, and the Braves strand the two runners.

In the fourth, Mark Ellis strikes out to start things off. Kemp grounds out, and Dre draws a walk. Hanley Ramirez doubles to left field. Ethier is waved home by Tim Wallach, and he is thrown out at the plate. Tim Wallach receives the TOOTBLAN for wildly waving home Ethier when he was clearly going to be out by a mile.

Cappy sends the Braves down in order again in the bottom of the fourth while striking out Freeman and Uggla for the second time.

James Loney and Luis Cruz hit back-to-back singles to begin the fifth inning. Matt Treanor’s groundout moves the runners over to second and third. Capuano’s ball to left field is too shallow for slow Loney to try to tag on. Victorino strikes out, and the Dodgers waste the two singles.

Cappy pitches another seven pitch inning in the bottom of the fifth. He’s only allowed two hits, but unfortunately one of those was the homerun to Chipper.

Mark Ellis hits a lead-off double right under the glove of Chipper and into left field in the sixth. Andre Ethier comes up and crushes his twelfth homerun of the season! The two-run shot gives the Dodgers a 2-1 edge. That’s Dre’s first homerun since July 14th against San Diego.

Cappy retires the next three batters including Jones after Michael Bourne beats out an infield grounder in the bottom half of the sixth.

Cruz leads off the seventh with a double. Treanor’s groundout moves Cruz over to third. Cappy strikes out. Victorino doubles over Prado in left field, and the Dodgers add another run as Cruz comes home. 3-1 Dodgers. That’s going to be all for Tommy Hanson. Chad Durbin comes out of the bullpen for Atlanta. With Mark Ellis at the plate, Victorino is caught stealing at third to end the inning.

Tommy Hanson pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing 7 hits, 3 runs, 2 walks, and 5 strikeouts on 100 pitches.

Cappy has another nice 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the seventh.

In the eighth, Durbin sends the Dodgers down in order.

Janish singles to lead-off the bottom of the eighth for the Braves. Reed Johnson follows with a single. Rick Honeycutt goes out to the mound for a meeting. Bourne bunts, and the runners advance to second and third on the play. The Dodgers go to the pen, and they bring in Ronald Belisario to pitch to Prado. Prado grounds out, and a run scores giving the Dodgers a narrower lead at 3-2. Heyward singles in the tying run and it’s a 3-3 ballgame. Jones grounds out to end the frame.

Chris Capuano pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts on 91 pitches.

Craig Kimbrel comes into pitch the ninth for Atlanta. Hanley looks at a 100-mph pitch as he strikes out. Loney grounds out, and he flips his bat against the screen. Don Mattingly gives him a little scolding back in the dugout. Cruz draws a two-out walk. Matt Treanor predictably strikes out. Treanor, albeit he’s the back-up catcher, is now batting .178. Not sure why Donnie wouldn’t bat for him there.

Belisario is still in for the bottom of the ninth. Beli strikes out Freeman on three pitches, and he whiffs Dan Uggla. David Ross walks. Janish strikes out, and Beli ends up striking out the side to send it into extra innings.

Eric O’Flaherty, left-hander, will pitch the top of the tenth. Elian Herrera, pinch-hitter, reaches safely on a rare Freeman error after he can’t hold on to the thrown ball on the grounder to second. Herrera advances to second on a sacrifice by Victorino. MEllis lines out right to Uggla for the second out. The Braves intentionally walk Kemp. Dre grounds out to Jones, and the Dodgers come up empty.

Randy Choate will try to stave off the Braves in the bottom of the tenth for the Dodgers. Tyler Pastornicky whiffs. Bourne, a left-handed batter, singles against Choate with one out. They bring in Brandon League to pitch to Prado with one out and one on. Bourne steals second, and then takes third when the throwing error by Treanor as the ball goes through to center field. Somehow League strikes Prado out. League hits Heyward with a pitch which will bring up Chipper Jones. Chipper flies out to center, and we all breathe a sigh of relief.

Jonny Venters, another lefty, comes in for the Dodger half of the eleventh. Hanley Ramirez leads off with a single. Juan Rivera hits into a double play. Luis Cruz gets an infield single on a grounder to second. Treanor hits a comebacker, and the Dodgers cannot score.

Brandon League is still in for the bottom of the eleventh. Freeman flies out. Uggla goes 0 for 5 after grounding out after a 0-3 count. David Ross

hits a two-out single. Janish collects his third hit of the day, and Ross ends up at third. Donnie decided to make a double switch. Jamey Wright will face Juan Francisco. Francisco singles in the walk-off run and the Braves take game one.

The Dodgers fall to 65-55. The Giants were up 9-0 against the Padres, so if they win the Dodgers will fall back to second place and a 1/2 game back.

Tomorrow game two will feature Aaron Harang versus Ben Sheets at 4:10 pm.