LOS ANGELES – For the second straight series, Matt Kemp helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the finale with a game-ending home run. Thursday, the Atlanta Braves were the victims.
Christhian Martinez surrendered the deciding hit on an 0-2 pitch, three innings after Casey Blake tied it in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single on an 0-2 delivery from Craig Kimbrel.
Despite taking the lead with David Ross’s two-out, two-run single on an 0-2 pitch in the ninth, the Braves lost 5-3, dropping a chance to split the four-game set.
“You can’t make mistakes 0-2, and we did today,” Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Any time you do that late in the game, you’re asking for trouble.”
Both teams were down to their final strike much earlier.