LOS ANGELES -- Yasmani Grandal didn't go home for the day after having a root canal. Instead, he homered and caught nine innings for the Dodgers in a 6-3 loss to the Braves on Thursday night, which snapped the team's 11-game win streak.
Major League catchers are tough, and Grandal is no exception. The Dodgers returned home late Wednesday night, following a road trip through Miami and Chicago, and Grandal said he intended on playing the series opener against the Braves, despite a lack of sleep and a painful dental procedure.
"There was no question about it," said Grandal, who also doubled in the ninth inning as the Dodgers tried to rally from a three-run deficit. "We got here late last night, and I had already had the appointment, so I was probably on three hours of sleep. But I had to get it done, and I just pretty much had my mind set on, 'I know it's going to [stink], but you just got to play through it and try to win a game.'
"I wasn't really thinking about the fact that I got a root canal today, but it happened."
Grandal's toughness was not lost on his teammates or his manager.
"He's tough," manager Dave Roberts said. "To catch nine innings and go out there and hit a homer and put some at-bats together, compete, that was a big hit in the ninth to give us a chance. Yasmani, he wants to be out there."
Chris Taylor was glad to see Grandal behind the plate when he fired a strike from left field to cut down Matt Adams trying to score from second base on a one-out single in the top of the eighth. Grandal held on to the ball through a collision, keeping the Dodgers' deficit at three runs.

"He's helped me out a couple times," Taylor said. "He wants to be out on the field, and he wants to compete with this team. We've got a lot of guys like that, and I think it shows."
Starter Brandon McCarthy didn't even know his batterymate underwent a root canal before the game.
"It's awesome," McCarthy said. "I didn't know about the root canal. I knew he had a dentist appointment. I didn't know he went through all that. He's become a true everyday catcher, and that's kind of the sign of the guys who play through a lot of stuff and just somehow make it out there in the middle of the summer after a terrible travel day. For him to still go out and have a good game says a lot about him."
Grandal said he had been playing through pain in his mouth for roughly four days leading up to the procedure.
"The last maybe three or four days, it was pretty bad," Grandal said. "But I think you just tell yourself to forget about it, it's going to be there, and I guess convince yourself it's going to [stink]. Thank God I got it done, and hopefully tomorrow it's even better."