Game 2 Recap: Atlanta Braves vs LA Dodgers

The Los Angles Dodgers came into the game on Tuesday evening with a two game lead in the NL West and a 27-17 record with a 20-6 record at home….not mentioning their ace and best pitcher in the game on the mound, Clayton Kershaw.  The Atlanta Braves?  They sat third in the NL East with a 22-22 record in 2015 and a 10-12 record on the road with Julio Teheran on the hill.

Sounds like a pretty good matchup, at least with the pitching…but nope!

The Dodgers defeated the Braves 8-0.  Dodgers now have a 28-17 record and the Braves have a 22-23 record.

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How did the pitching matchup play out?

Kershaw – 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K’s and the Win

Teheran – 4.1 IP, 10 H, 8 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 1 HR and the Loss

“These guys swing the bat real well, but the execution was not as good as we’ve seen him.” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said about Teheran’s performance.  “That’s something we need to work on, he needs to get better at that kind of stuff.”

Kershaw made the Braves hitting staff look awful…which he does to many teams.  His curveball was insane last night and it showed with his strikeout pitch as he fanned 10 batters.

A great quote from ESPN this morning…

“The Braves were just what Kershaw needed to get back on track this season.”

His last three regular season starts against the Braves – three wins, only three earned runs and 39 strikeouts.  LOL!

Kershaw didn’t just kill the Braves with his arm, he also had a base hit and a RBI.  In fact, everyone in the Dodgers starting lineup had at least one hit.

Braves offense?  Five hits all together and three came off the bat of Nick Markakis.  The other two were from Cameron Maybin and Andrelton Simmons.

Not the performance the Braves wanted to display on Tuesday, but one positive that possibly came from the game…Eric Stults came in relief of Teheran and pitched 3.2 innings and only allowed one hit and no runs.  This may have gave the Dodgers confidence in executing the trade…though I think they were already content with receiving the veteran pitcher.

Want to see a positive from Tuesday?  Christian Bethancourt gunning down Jimmy Rollins on a strike-him-out-throw-him-out in the 1st inning.

This was only the second game of a 10 game road series so hopefully the Braves can turn it around quickly.

The Braves send out Alex Wood on Wednesday to try and avoid a sweep.