ATLANTA — The nationwide anthem had been sung. A sold-out crowd was in its seats. The sector was raked, chalked and prepared for baseball.

Greater than three hours later, the primary pitch was lastly thrown.

What was scheduled as a 7:15 p.m. native begin at Truist Park in Atlanta on Friday didn’t really kick off till 10:21 p.m., with the Dodgers and Braves getting delayed by a thunderstorm that rolled in shortly after the sport was supposed to start.

The three-plus hour delay may have been sufficient to power a cancellation, and set off a doubleheader on Sunday. However with the Braves already within the midst of a 17-straight-game stretch, the Dodgers had been as an alternative requested to “hunker down,” as supervisor Dave Roberts quipped earlier than the sport, and wait.

“I think that the Braves and Major League Baseball were very motivated to play tonight,” Roberts stated.

“When we got to about 8:30, I kind of figured we were gonna be playing this game,” added first baseman Freddie Freeman. “Which is OK. We’re here, we might as well play it.”

The Dodgers in the end did play, and rolled to a 10-3 win, as nicely, wanting unfazed by the climate, the situations or a late evening that stretched into the early hours of Sunday morning earlier than their seventh straight victory was lastly full.

“Give credit to our guys, just to stay focused,” Roberts stated. “We came out with some intent tonight.”

Regardless of the lengthy delay, Roki Sasaki survived his newest big-league take a look at, dancing out and in of hazard in a five-inning, three-run begin for his first MLB win.

Freeman and Shohei Ohtani hit residence runs; Ohtani to interrupt an early 1-1 tie within the third, Freeman to place the sport out of attain within the eighth.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hits a solo residence run within the third inning in opposition to the Braves on Saturday.

(Mike Stewart / Related Press)

Most of all, a Dodgers crew that spent a lot of the opening month attempting to get synced up on the mound and on the plate — regardless of nonetheless posting one of the best file within the majors — continued to spherical into more and more dominant type, inching ever nearer to hitting their tantalizing prime gear.

“Just a lot of good things [have] happened in the last week or so,” Freeman stated, after the Dodgers’ third double-digit run complete of their final 4 video games. “The offense has obviously been swinging the bat really well.”

Few sequences higher exemplified that than the crooked numbers the Dodgers (23-10) posted within the third and fourth innings.

Within the third, the Dodgers performed each long-ball and small-ball to provide two runs. Ohtani led off along with his eighth residence run, launching a towering solo blast to straightaway heart subject. Then, Betts hit a single, took second base on a hit-and-run play that possible would’ve resulted in a double-play grounder in any other case, and scored when Teoscar Hernández snuck a floor ball via the infield — giving Hernández his thirty third RBI to tie Aaron Decide for the MLB lead.

Within the fourth, their offense went station-to-station in a four-run rally, the entire runs coming with two outs. Ohtani roped a single to heart to get the risk began. Betts adopted with an RBI double down the left-field line, marking his fourth-straight multi-hit recreation. Freeman then chased Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach (who entered with a sub-3.00 ERA) with an RBI single to left, Betts staying on his toes all the best way residence to attain simply forward of a tag on the plate.

“We just kept adding and adding and adding,” Freeman stated.

After which, with the clock ticking towards midnight, Braves reliever Aaron Bummer aided their trigger by instantly turning right into a pumpkin.

The Los Angeles Dodgers even have among the best data in baseball however nobody appears to be too thrilled by it. Accidents, query marks and hitters not hitting are points.

His first batter, Hernández, hit a dribbler up the first-base line that Bummer initially fielded, however then dropped whereas attempting to switch the ball to his throwing hand for a flip to first base. Bummer shortly retrieved the ball once more, and turned towards residence with Freeman taking a large flip round third. However his throw there was off-line, crusing over catcher Sean Murphy’s head to permit Freeman to attain with ease.

Hernández additionally took second on the play, organising Will Smith for an RBI single within the subsequent at-bat.

It was late Saturday evening baseball, at its sloppily, messy best.

Sasaki didn’t make life simple on himself after ready round for the delayed first pitch.

He needed to strand two runners within the first, the latter of which reached on a two-out stroll. He hung a slider to Ozzie Albies for a leadoff single within the second, then gave up a run when Eli White hit a half-swing double the opposite technique to proper. One other two-out stroll created extra stress within the third. And regardless of taking the mound with a 7-1 lead within the fourth, he gave up a leadoff homer to Albies and a one-out RBI double to Nick Allen, prompting a mound assembly from pitching coach Mark Prior.

“I thought [in] the fourth inning he started to waver a little bit with his command,” Roberts stated. “But it was really important for him to get through that fifth inning.”

Certainly, because the 23-year-old right-hander has made a behavior of throughout his up-and-down marketing campaign, Sasaki managed to restrict the harm there and regroup, returning to the mound for a clear fifth inning that certified him for his first victory.

“I’m just relieved that I was able to do what I was supposed to do as a starting pitcher, knowing the circumstances,” Sasaki stated via interpreter Will Ireton. “Knowing the fact that we were gonna play [later] today.”

Despite the fact that the sport didn’t finish till 1:26 a.m. native time, the Dodgers didn’t abandon one necessary postgame custom. As they do with all their younger pitchers who earn a first-career win, the crew serenaded Sasaki with a bathe of all method of unspecified liquids within the clubhouse.

“A lot was thrown on me,” Sasaki stated, smiling.

That it got here on the finish of such a protracted day, Freeman added with amusing, “we might have celebrated a little bit harder.”