ATLANTA -- Hyun-Jin Ryu's start Saturday night at SunTrust Park won’t help his NL Cy Young Award chances, but it should give him added incentive should the Dodgers face the Braves again in the postseason.

Ryu allowed sixth-inning back-to-back solo home runs to Josh Donaldson and Adam Duvall, the difference in the Dodgers’ 4-3 loss to the Braves, despite home runs from Matt Beaty and Max Muncy.

• Box score

Ryu allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings and is 12-3 with an ERA that climbed from 1.45 to 1.64. This was Ryu’s first defeat and the most runs allowed since Colorado scored seven runs off him in a June 28 loss at Coors Field. He was coming off seven scoreless innings against Arizona last Sunday.

“Have to tip my cap to them,” said Ryu through an interpreter. “It wasn’t necessarily middle-middle pitches. It was in the quadrant I wanted, and they put a swing on it. In those cases, you have to applaud the hitters. I do regret throwing certain pitches in certain counts knowing the results. Maybe I could have gone with offspeed pitches.”

Both home runs were on fastballs. Donaldson’s was up and over the plate on a 1-2 pitch. Duvall’s was a 2-2 pitch down and away after he fouled off three changeups.

“We tried to go up and in to Donaldson and it leaked over the middle a little bit, and he took a nice swing,” said catcher Russell Martin, Donaldson’s teammate in Toronto. “Didn’t look like he was on that pitch, but he hit it deep, got on the plane and hit it well. Just gave up a couple solo shots, and it cost us the game.”

Said Duvall: "You just look for a pitch to drive. I was able to get the barrel to one. He was mixing it up a lot early. I had two strikes there, but I ended up getting a good swing on it and was able to hit it far enough."

In his only other start against the Braves this year, Ryu threw a four-hit shutout at home. He started against them twice in last year’s NL Division Series, going 1-0 with a 3.40 ERA, both of those starts at home.

Of course, Ryu is dominant at home (9-0, 0.81 ERA) compared to his numbers on the road (3-3, 2.55). Expect management to maneuver the postseason rotation to maximize his starts at Dodger Stadium.

“If I face them again, obviously I have to refrain from making the same mistakes I made today,” Ryu said. “Just like Colorado, I can learn from this experience and regain my focus and study the hitters again and move on from there.”

Manager Dave Roberts said he thought Ryu pitched well enough to win.

“I thought his stuff was good,” said Roberts. “There were changeups that cut a little on him and got to the barrel. Can’t throw zeros every time out there. Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short. It was a well-played baseball game, and we got beat tonight. For us to get beat is a little easier to swallow than beating yourself.”