ARLINGTON, Texas - Corey Seager's sweet swing. Walker Buehler's calm. Kenley Jansen's resurgence.
The Los Angeles Dodgers got what they needed. Again.
"We did what we had to do to force a Game 7," third baseman Justin Turner said.
They sure did.
Seager homered again, Buehler pitched six scoreless innings and the Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 3-1 on Saturday to send the National League Championship Series to a winner-take-all finale.
Los Angeles avoided elimination for the second time in less than 24 hours, staying alive in its pursuit of a third pennant in four years. It hasn't won the World Series since 1988.
"I'm still sort of recovering from this one but already thinking about Game 7," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "That's what you live for."
Turner also homered for Los Angeles, and Jansen threw a six-pitch ninth for the 18th postseason save of his MLB career.
The NL West and East champions meet again at 8:15 p.m. Sunday - Fox and FS1 will televise the matchup - with the potential for two rookie starters in a Game 7 for the first time in MLB history.
Roberts was keeping his options open for his starting pitcher, but the Braves plan to go with rookie right-hander Ian Anderson, who has thrown 15 2/3 scoreless innings in his three postseason starts. Tony Gonsolin and three-time NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw are among the possibilities for Los Angeles.
"Shoot, we'll go out there and let her fly. A Game 7 is another baseball game. You have to treat it as such," said Atlanta manager Brian Snitker, whose team lost a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with Wednesday's 15-3 defeat and a 3-1 advantage with Friday's 7-3 setback.
The Braves were hoping to celebrate Snitker's 65th birthday Saturday with the franchise's first World Series berth since 1999. Max Fried took his first loss all year, though, working into the seventh inning after surrendering three runs during a rocky first.
Buehler, using Stan's Rodeo Ointment to deal with bothersome blisters, threw 65 of his 89 pitches for strikes. He allowed seven hits while striking out six without a walk.
After Atlanta loaded the bases with three singles in a row to start the top of second - the last hit by his former Vanderbilt roommate Dansby Swanson - the right-hander really brought the heat, throwing 10 consecutive fastballs to get out of the jam.
Austin Riley struck out on a 98.7 mph pitch before Nick Markakis took a called third strike on 99.7 mph. Cristian Pache, the 21-year-old rookie who had an RBI in each of his first four NLCS starts, was retired on an inning-ending groundout.
"His mound presence is just unbelievable," Turner said.
AP photo by Eric Gay / Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler celebrates after striking out the Atlanta Braves' Austin Riley during the sixth inning Saturday.Buehler said he has never felt that calm in a game, especially a situation like that. He credited catcher Austin Barnes and past experiences.
"I've failed in those moments. I've been through it and I've been good after it, but that failure doesn't really scare me anymore," Buehler said. "The more times you go through things like that, your heartbeat kind of changes and can slow down."
It was a much different result than Buehler's postseason debut two years ago in Game 3 of an NL Division Series against Atlanta, when the Braves also loaded the bases against him in the second inning. After a walk drove in a run, Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a grand slam on the next pitch.
Fried, who struck out five batters and walked four in 6 2/3 innings, allowed only two homers in his 11 starts while going 7-0 during the regular season. The Dodgers went deep twice in three pitches in the first inning Saturday.
Seager pulled a towering shot to right on a 73 mph curveball, and Turner connected on a 93 mph sinker that went 418 feet to straightaway center field. Max Muncy walked and scored after back-to-back singles by Will Smith and Cody Bellinger that made it 3-0.
"I came out in a game like this and kind of put us behind the eight-ball real quick." Fried said. "To me, that's unacceptable."
Seager, who homered twice in Game 5 on Friday night, has NLCS records with five homers and 11 RBIs - and still a game to play. His six homers overall in these playoffs are already a Dodgers postseason record.
Mookie Betts, the 2018 American League MVP and a first-year Dodger with a long-term contract, made a leaping catch against the right field wall to end the fifth. While it wouldn't have been a homer, it robbed Marcell Ozuna of extra bases and the Braves of a likely run.
Betts, the former Boston Red Sox star, let out a emphatic shout while pumping both fists, then celebrated with Bellinger as Buehler held his right arm high in the air.
Ozzie Albies hit a slow chopper down the first-base line in the Braves' sixth that was fielded by Muncy, who then made the tag before the ball popped out. Albies thought he was out and never touched first base. Muncy tossed the ball to Buehler, who tagged the runner already heading back to the Atlanta dugout.
With Buehler out of the game, Nick Markakis greeted Blake Treinen with a triple to right leading off the seventh and came home on a one-out double by Ronald Acuña Jr. The Dodgers' bullpen closed it out from there, however, with Jansen finishing the victory in an encouraging performance heading into Game 7.
It was Jansen's first save chance in five appearances since closing out the Dodgers' first playoff win this season in the wild-card round. He struck out the side on 12 pitches in Friday night's 7-3 win.
"Two huge outings, not only for us, but him personally, you can just see the confidence he has on the mound attacking guys," Turner said. "That's the Kenley Jansen I and all of us in there all know and love."
The Dodgers are playing in a Game 7 for the third time in four years. They won 5-1 on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers in the deciding game of the 2018 NLCS, a year after losing 5-1 at home to the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the World Series. Atlanta hasn't played in a Game 7 since its 15-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1996 NLCS.