The Los Angeles Dodgers rode the hot arm of Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of their 2013 MLB Baseball NL Divisional Series Playoff game against the Atlanta Braves on the road to a relatively easy 6-1 victory in Game 1. Tonight in Game 2, Atlanta will have to solve Zack Greinke or else face an 0-2 hole and the prospect of winning three straight elimination games in order to advance. Watch Dodgers at Braves Game 2 free live online streaming: MLB Baseball NL Divisional Playoffs on TBS instructions are linked for you below.
After Kershaw’s 12-strikeout performance, the Dodgers are calling upon Zack Greinke and his 15-4 regular season record to keep the line moving and push his team to one win away from appearing in the NLCS. Greinke posted a 1.58 ERA since July 30 in 12 starts, second only to teammate Kershaw who was a hair better at 1.55. In his last start against Atlanta, Greinke was dominant in seven innings by allowing only four hits and zero runs scored. He is also 7-0 in his last 10 starts on the road.
While Los Angeles must feel fantastic about their chances defensively with Greinke on the mound, their offense has struggled against left-handed pitchers and they will be facing one tonight in Atlanta’s Mike Minor. In two starts against the Dodgers this season, Minor was 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA. He also held Los Angeles to .205 hitting and racked up 15 strikeouts in 12 innings of work. Unfortunately Minor dropped his last five starts of the season, but all came after the Braves had already wrapped up their division.
There were concerns about how rookie Yasiel Puig would handle postseason pressures and he delivered with a pair of singles in his first game. With the Dodgers potent youth comes plenty of experience as Adrian Gonzalez did what he does best, deliver clutch hits as he belted a two-run homer in Game 1 and will be looking to put more pressure on the Braves tonight.
Atlanta has now dropped a total of four consecutive postseason games at home dating back two seasons. A loss tonight would put the Dodgers in a position to wrap up the series at home in Game 3, and if they fail then, again in Los Angeles with Game 4. This is about as must-win a non-elimination game for Atlanta as it gets, and they’ll need Minor to bring his best stuff to the mound in order to get the job done.
Minor may be undefeated against the Dodgers this season, but both of those starts came earlier in the year and this is an entirely different team now. If Greinke is on his game as he has been the past several months, the Dodgers may only need to get two or three runs off of Minor to walk away with a 2-0 series lead.
The Los Angeles Dodgers look to go up two games to none against the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of their Divisional Playoff Series with a start time of 6:07pm EST / 3:07pm PST on TBS in high definition (HD). Cable or satellite subscribers with the TBS channel have the option to watch Dodgers at Braves Game 2 free live online streaming: MLB Baseball NL Divisional Playoffs on the TBS website app here by logging in with the credentials provided by their provider. I predict the Dodgers are once again too strong for Atlanta and head home up a pair of games.
