Machado, Dodgers finish off Braves in NLDS with 6-2 win

ATLANTA >> When the Los Angeles Dodgers bolstered their already power-packed lineup with slugging shortstop Manny Machado, this is just what they had in mind.

Plenty of long balls. Another deep run in the postseason.

Next stop, the NL Championship Series for the third year in a row.

Machado drove in four runs — three of them with a seventh-inning shot into the left-field seats — and the Dodgers finished off the Atlanta Braves with a 6-2 victory today in the NL Division Series.

Los Angeles took the best-of-five series 3-1 and advanced to face the Brewers. Game 1 is Friday night in Milwaukee.

Coming off a tense victory in Game 3, the Braves grabbed the lead on pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki’s two-run single in the fourth.

But David Freese, the 2011 World Series MVP with St. Louis, came through again in the postseason. He delivered a pinch-hit single of his own in the sixth off Jonny Venters (0-1), driving home Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig for a 3-2 lead with a grounder past backup shortstop Charlie Culberson after Atlanta allowed Puig to steal second uncontested.

Machado finished off Atlanta in the seventh, launching a 1-2 pitch from rookie Chad Sobotka over the Dodgers’ bullpen — his team’s eighth homer of the series. A free-agent-to-be acquired from Baltimore in July, Machado also had a run-scoring double in the first.

Ryan Madson (1-0) earned the win by getting the final two outs in the fifth to escape a bases-loaded jam. Lucas Duda hit a long drive to right that drifted foul with two on in the eighth against Kenta Maeda, then had an inning-ending flyout.

Atlanta’s return to the postseason for the first time since 2013 yielded a familiar result: another postseason defeat.

The Braves have lost nine straight playoff appearances, their last victory coming 17 long years ago against a team that is no longer in the National League. Since a sweep of Houston Astros in the 2001 NL Division Series, October has been a month of misery for the Braves.

Getting back to the playoffs ahead of schedule after a massive rebuild, Atlanta simply didn’t have the experience, depth or power to stick with the power-packed Dodgers. Los Angeles had a franchise-record 235 homers during the regular season and hit eight more against the Braves.

WILD STARTERS

Rich Hill of the Dodgers walked five in 4 1-3 innings, including a pair leading off the fifth that set up Suzuki’s two-run single. Atlanta’s Mike Foltynewicz walked four (one intentional) in four innings before he was lifted.

TOUGH OUT

Hill isn’t much of a hitter, but he sure made Foltynewicz work for an inning-ending strikeout in the fourth.

After falling behind 0-2 in the count, Hill fouled out five straight pitches.

Finally, Foltynewicz blew a 9 -mph fastball by the .107 career hitter.

FIRST PITCH

The Braves brought out another Hall of Famer to deliver the ceremonial first pitch.

Former Atlanta manager Bobby Cox one-hopped his toss to the plate but still received a big ovation from the Atlanta crowd.

Chipper Jones threw out the first pitch before Game 3.

SMALLER CROWD

The announced crowd of 39,586 was nearly 3,000 smaller than the previous night’s record SunTrust Park turnout, perhaps because of a 4:30 p.m. start time that coincided with Atlanta’s notorious rush hour.

UP NEXT

The Dodgers beat Milwaukee 4-3 in the season series. Both teams won division titles with one-game playoff victories the day after the regular season.

Atlanta opens the 2019 season at Philadelphia on March 28.