BRAVES FROM PAGE B1

taking 2-0 leads in best-ofseven baseball postseason series have gone on to win.

A year ago, however, Atlanta held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 over the Dodgers in the NLCS, only to lose the last three games of a series played in Arlington, Texas, because the pandemic. Los Angeles went on to beat Tampa Bay in the World Series, while the Braves stewed for another shot.

They are halfway to payback after rallying in the eighth off Julio Urías, who pitched three hitless innings to finish Game 7 against the Braves last October.

Seager and Atlanta’s Joc Pederson traded two-run homers – Pederson adding to his “Joctober” lore with his third homer of this postseason and first off his longtime team – before Chris Taylor put the Dodgers ahead again with a two-run hit in the seventh.

Los Angeles again wasted chances, going 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position and dropping to 2 for 18 in the series.

Six outs away from tying the series, the Dodgers brought in expected Game 4 starter Urías to protect the lead before turning it over to Jansen in the ninth.

The 20-game winner couldn’t get it done. Rosario led off with a single and wisely tagged up to move up to second on Freddie Freeman’s flyout to left.

Ozzie Albies lined one to right for another hit off Urias. Rosario zipped around third as third base coach Ron Washington sent him home, just beating the throw with a brilliant slide that avoided the swipe by catcher Will Smith.

Then it was Riley, the Game 1 star, coming through again. He ripped a double to wall in right center, bringing Albies all the way around from first with the tying run.

Travis d’Arnaud led off the ninth with a broken-bat single to center on a 101 mph pitch from Brusdar Graterol and was replaced by pinch-runner Cristian Pache. Swanson tried to move Pache along with a bunt, only to have the attempted sacrifice result in a forceout at second when Seager made a backhand stop on Graterol’s bounced, offline throw.

But Swanson managed to get to second himself when Guillermo Heredia grounded out to third base. The Dodgers turned to their closer to face Rosario, who connected on the very first pitch for the fifth walk-off in 23 postseason games this year.

Braves closer Will Smith picked up the win with a 1-23 top of the ninth, breathing a big sigh of relief when Trea Turner’s drive was caught at the base of the wall in left.

The Dodgers grabbed a 2-0 lead just six pitches into the game against Braves starter Ian Anderson, who came in with a 3-0 record and 0.76 ERA in five postseason starts.

Mookie Betts led off with a single, and Seager launched one over the fence in right-center to stun the raucous crowd.

Pederson brought them back to life with another installment of Joctober in the fourth.

With a runner aboard, Pederson connected on a hanging curve from Max Scherzer for his third homer of this postseason, a 454foot shot into Chop House restaurant above the rightfield stands.

It was the longest homer by any player in this postseason – and the 12th of Pederson’s career in the games that really matter.