Kim's Walk-Off Single Ends Edman's Heroics, ATL Survives 6-5

Atlanta needed every last out to hold off Los Angeles, escaping with a 6-5 win on a ninth-inning single by Kim that scored Thomas and swung the win probability from 61% to 100%. Tommy Edman was the best player on the field for most of the night — 2-for-4, a home run, 3 RBI, 2 runs — and it still wasn't enough.

Matt Olson set the tone immediately, launching a 400-foot homer to right in the first to put Atlanta up 1-0. Los Angeles answered in the second when Feduccia singled to center to score Edman, knotting it at one. Then Edman flipped the script entirely in the third — a 371-foot shot to right that brought Freeman home and gave the Dodgers a 3-1 lead. That looked like it might be the turning point. It wasn't.

Atlanta came roaring back in the fourth. A Riley sacrifice fly scored Albies to make it 3-2, and then Baldwin delivered the gut punch: a double to left that scored both Murphy and Yastrzemski, putting the Braves ahead 4-3. Sean Murphy added to the damage in the sixth with a 397-foot homer to left center, pushing the lead to 5-3. The story of the night, at that point, appeared to be Atlanta's ability to absorb punishment and counterpunch harder.

But the Dodgers weren't done. In the seventh, Betts singled to center to score Ohtani and pull it to 5-4, with Freeman moving to third. Then Edman drew a walk — Freeman scored — and suddenly it was 5-5. Los Angeles had clawed all the way back from a two-run deficit with two outs to spare. What looked like a comfortable Atlanta cushion had evaporated completely. The ninth inning is where it ended for good: Kim singled to left, Thomas scored, Riley moved to second, and the win probability swung from 61% to 100% in one swing of the bat. Atlanta 6, Los Angeles 5, final. On the pitching side, AJ Smith-Shawver worked five innings for Atlanta, allowing 5 hits and 3 earned runs on 3 walks — workmanlike but hardly dominant. Didier Fuentes followed with 2 scoreless innings, though he walked three. Victor Mederos closed out a clean inning with 2 strikeouts. For Los Angeles, Eric Lauer gave up 2 hits and 1 earned run in 2 innings. The bullpen situation for both sides looks like it was stretched thin by the back-and-forth nature of this one. Edman's night — 3 RBI, a home run, two runs scored — deserved a win. He didn't get one.