ATLANTA -- Chris Sale dominated much of the conversation heading into Game 3 of the NL Division Series, from how well-positioned the Braves were with their ace on the mound to how the Dodgers would adjust just over a month removed from being shut out by him.
But the Dodgers countered with a frontline starter of their own: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who outdueled Sale in a battle of aces.
Making his first postseason appearance since closing out Game 7 of last year's World Series, Yamamoto twirled seven innings of one-run ball in a 3-1 victory over the Braves on Tuesday night at Truist Park, putting the Dodgers one win away from advancing to the NL Championship Series. Yamamoto's 10 strikeouts were a postseason career high, passing his previous mark of nine in Game 2 of last year's NL Wild Card Series.
By taking a 2-1 lead in the NLDS, the Dodgers are in good historical company at this stage of their bid for the fifth three-peat in World Series history. In all best-of-five postseason series that have been tied 1-1, the team that wins Game 3 has gone on to win the series 48 of 67 times (72%). In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams leading 2-1 heading into Game 4 on the road have won the series 26 of 37 times (70%), with 20 of those clinching victories coming in Game 4.
“I was feeling really good," Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda in a postgame television interview. "I was able to control my pitches. That’s why I got the swings and misses, and that led to that number [of strikeouts].”
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With Tuesday's outcome bringing the loser of Game 3 to the brink of elimination, manager Dave Roberts was approaching the contest with urgency -- which he showed before a pitch was thrown by shuffling the lineup in an attempt to counteract Sale. But that did not mean that he would be tempted to overmanage with Yamamoto on the mound.
"I trust Yamamoto undoubtedly," Roberts said before the game. "So I'm going to give him every opportunity to do what he does and has done."
The Braves gave Yamamoto some trouble in the fifth inning, loading the bases with one out and scratching a run across on a Drake Baldwin groundout to first base. But aside from that frame, Yamamoto looked squarely in control.
“I was feeling really good with my fastball, it was coming out of my hand really good," Yamamoto said. "Naturally, I ended up relying on it.”
Yamamoto became the first Dodger with a postseason start of at least seven innings, 10 strikeouts and one or fewer runs allowed since Blake Snell in Game 1 of the 2025 NL Wild Card Series. He is the third Japanese-born pitcher to reach double-digit strikeouts in a postseason game, joining Shohei Ohtani (2025 NLCS Game 4) and Hiroki Kuroda (2012 ALCS Game 2).