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Chris Sale delivered a masterful performance on the mound Thursday night as the Atlanta Braves shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 to finish off a three-game series sweep. Sale (13-9) allowed just five hits while striking out 11 batters and issuing no walks in his dominant effort. The left-hander secured his 17th complete game, his first since 2019 when he pitched for Boston.
Drake Baldwin provided the game’s only run with a leadoff home run off Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the first pitch. Baldwin’s shot, his fourth leadoff homer this season and 22nd overall, sailed into the right-field Chop House restaurant at Truist Park. Yamamoto (12-8) pitched 6 1/3 innings for the Dodgers, surrendering four hits and striking out eight.
Sale’s performance marked his fourth double-digit strikeout game this season and the 95th of his career, ranking seventh all-time in Major League Baseball history. A sellout crowd of 39,650 fans showed their appreciation when Sale took the mound for the ninth inning, with Braves manager Walt Weiss electing to stay with his ace rather than turn to the bullpen.
The NL East-leading Braves won the season series 5-1 against the Dodgers, who currently lead the NL West. Ha-Seong Kim, batting .078, earned a start after delivering a go-ahead pinch-hit single with two outs in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s 6-5 victory. Kim collected a single and stolen base in the third inning Thursday.
The Dodgers placed right-hander Roki Sasaki on the 15-day injured list due to a blister on his right middle finger sustained in Wednesday’s game. Los Angeles recalled right-hander Seth Halvorsen from Triple-A Oklahoma City to bolster the roster.
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