Dodgers advance to the NLCS with a 4-1 win over the Braves

The Dodgers beat the Braves 4-1 Wednesday night and won their National League Division Series three games to one. Los Angeles advances to the NL Championship Series after winning both games in Atlanta.

Atlanta scored first on Ozzie Albies' groundout in the opening inning. Shohei Ohtani tied the game in the second when Max Muncy's ground ball produced an Atlanta fielding error. The game stayed 1-1 until the seventh.

Pages found the second route

Andy Pages supplied the hit that changed the series. His two-out single to center scored Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman, turning a tie into a 3-1 Dodgers lead. Pages finished with two of Los Angeles' five hits and drove in the only two runs the club needed from a clean hit before the ninth.

That mattered after Game 3 exposed the Dodgers' reliance on home runs. Los Angeles had scored all 10 of its postseason runs through that game on homers. The clincher required a different route: pressure, an opponent's error and Pages' two-out single before Max Muncy homered in the ninth.

The bullpen made the lead hold

Tyler Glasnow allowed one hit and one run across 4 2/3 innings, although five walks kept him from working deeper. Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez, Tanner Scott and Edwin Díaz covered the final 4 1/3 innings without allowing a run. Atlanta finished with three hits, and Díaz needed eight pitches to close the ninth.

The Dodgers did not overwhelm the box score. They produced five hits and scored one unearned run. They advanced because their bullpen erased the danger created by the walks, and Pages delivered the hit Atlanta never answered.

Sunday is the next date

NLCS Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday, October 11. MLB has not yet settled the opponent or game time. Los Angeles has cleared the first postseason series. The next test begins with a better offensive question than the one it carried into Atlanta: can this lineup keep creating runs when the ball stays in the park?