Chris Sale struck out 11 on Thursday while throwing his first complete game in seven years, leading the Atlanta Braves to a 1-0 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers and a three-game sweep.
Sale (13-9) allowed just five hits and walked none while going the distance for the first time since June 5, 2019. It was the major leagues’ ninth complete-game shutout of the year.
Sale fired a season-high 109 pitches, the last one striking out Alex Call with a runner on first base.
Drake Baldwin’s first-pitch leadoff homer in the first inning accounted for the game’s only run as the Braves earned their third straight one-run win over Los Angeles. It was Atlanta’s first sweep of the Dodgers since May 2013.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8) hurled 6 1/3 innings of one-run, four-hit ball. He struck out eight and walked one for the Dodgers, who saw their lead over the Braves for the No. 2 seed in the National League playoffs shrink to one game.
Los Angeles’ Freddie Freeman began the ninth with a single. Sale retired Teoscar Hernandez on a fly ball and got Miguel Rojas to ground into a forceout. Rojas reached first as first baseman Matt Olson’s foot was off the bag on what would have been a game-ending double play. Rojas was called safe on the field, and the ruling stood after an extended review.
Sale then fanned Call on three pitches.
Baldwin sent Yamamoto’s first pitch of the game 402 feet to right field for his 22nd homer.
Sale and Yamamoto combined for 13 strikeouts and zero walks through four innings.
After Los Angeles’ Ben Rortvedt reached on a two-out single in the fifth, Sale reared back for a 99.6 mph fastball to fan Shohei Ohtani for the second time.
Sale breezed through a nine-pitch sixth. He struck out Tommy Edman for the third time before getting Mookie Betts to ground out and Freeman to fly out to center.
Rojas laced a one-out single in the seventh, but Sale retired Call and Enrique Hernandez on a pair of flyouts to preserve the one-run advantage.
In the bottom of the seventh, Michael Harris II singled and stole second before Lane Thomas walked to chase Yamamoto. After 105 pitches, the Los Angeles starter was replaced by Jack Dreyer.
Mike Yastrzemski then lined to Dreyer, who caught the ball and fired to second to double off Harris and end the inning.
Edgardo Henriquez tossed a perfect eighth for Los Angeles.