Pages breaks the tie in seventh as Dodgers finish off 4-1 win over Braves

Atlanta’s early edge disappeared, then the seventh did the damage

Atlanta struck first, but it could not build on it. Michael Harris II came home on a Tyler Glasnow wild pitch in the opening inning, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead before either offence had found much rhythm.

Los Angeles answered in the second without needing a hit in the scoring play. Shohei Ohtani scored when Max Muncy reached safely on a fielding error by shortstop Mauricio Dubón, and the game settled into a long, taut stretch at 1-1.

That stalemate lasted until the seventh, when the Dodgers finally found the swing that changed the night. Andy Pages lined a single to centre, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández both scored, and Kyle Tucker moved to third as Los Angeles turned a tie game into a 3-1 lead.

It was a sharp turn in a game that had otherwise been stingy. Tyler Mahle kept Atlanta in strong position for most of the evening, finishing with 6.1 innings, three hits allowed and four strikeouts. But the Dodgers made their limited offence count, then Muncy supplied insurance in the ninth with a 389-foot homer to right for the final 4-1 margin.

Glasnow laboured, the relievers cleaned it up

Glasnow’s outing was not especially smooth, but it was effective enough to keep the Dodgers in place until their bats arrived. He lasted 4.2 innings, allowed only one hit and one run, and struck out five. The complication was command: five walks and a wild pitch pushed his pitch count to 78 before the fifth inning was complete.

Atlanta had chances because of that traffic. Harris was the clearest spark, going 2-for-3 with a walk and scoring the Braves’ only run, while Ozzie Albies added the club’s only other hit. Even so, the Braves finished with just three hits and left 14 runners on base, the number that hangs over the box score more than anything else.

The Dodgers’ bullpen took over and gave Atlanta nothing after the first run crossed. Alex Vesia recorded two outs, Edgardo Henriquez covered 1.2 innings, Tanner Scott struck out two in his clean frame, and Edwin Díaz handled the ninth. Together, that group worked 4.1 scoreless innings, allowed two hits, walked nobody and closed off every remaining opening.

That relief work mattered because Los Angeles never overwhelmed Atlanta offensively. The Dodgers had only five hits and batted .156 as a team. What separated them was efficiency: three walks, one stolen base, Pages’ timely single and Muncy’s home run were enough to turn a thin offensive night into four runs.

Our take: a game decided by execution, not volume

This was the kind of result that frustrates one club and reassures the other. The Braves actually put more men on base than their three-hit total suggests, drawing five walks and forcing Glasnow out before the fifth inning ended. But they never found the extra hit that would make that pressure meaningful, and once the Dodgers’ bullpen entered, the at-bats became even less forgiving.

For Los Angeles, the takeaway is simpler: the lineup did not need to be broad because the production was concentrated in the right places. Pages went 2-for-3 and drove in the two runs that broke the tie. Muncy supplied the only extra-base hit with his ninth-inning homer. Tucker reached twice, Ohtani scored despite going hitless, and Hernández crossed the plate in the decisive inning. On a five-hit night, that is enough definition to win.

Atlanta can point to Mahle’s work as a reason the game stayed manageable, but the details around him were costly. Two errors, including the second-inning misplay that allowed Ohtani to score, gave away one run, and the offence never recovered from the missed opportunities. When a team draws five walks and still finishes with one run, the burden shifts back to contact and execution rather than patience alone.

In the end, the Dodgers looked like the cleaner club in the moments that mattered most. They did not dominate the stat line, but they controlled the outcome once the game reached its hinge point. Pages delivered the breakthrough, Muncy added the punctuation, and the pitching staff made sure Atlanta’s early lead stayed small enough to erase.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Harris II scored on Glasnow wild pitch.

2. 1st Inning

   Harris II scored on Glasnow wild pitch.

3. 2nd Inning

   Ohtani scored on error, Muncy safe at first on fielding error by shortstop Dubón.

4. 7th Inning

   Pages singled to center, Edman scored and T. Hernández scored, Tucker to third.

5. 9th Inning

   Muncy homered to right (389 feet).