Dodgers: Patience at plate adds to strange postseason streak

On Tuesday afternoon as the National League Championship Series shifted to Chavez Ravine, the Los Angeles Dodgers used patience at the plate to keep an interesting postseason streak alive.

For the third consecutive postseason, the Los Angeles Dodgers forced an opposing pitcher to issue four walks in the first inning of a game. On Tuesday, it was Atlanta Braves starter Charlie Morton, who threw 25 pitches in the opening frame and left the mound with a 2-0 deficit.

Morton walked Dodgers leadoff hitter Mookie Betts to open the game, and Corey Seager followed with a two-run home run to center field to give the Dodgers a quick 2-0 lead. Morton would then retire the next two batters before Justin Turner, Gavin Lux, and Cody Bellinger each earned free passes. With the bases loaded, however, Morton would wriggle out of the jam by getting Chris Taylor to line out to shortstop Dansby Swanson to end the frame.

Here is where the postseason trend on first-inning walks by the Los Angeles Dodgers gets strange

First innings with four walks are nothing new for the Dodgers, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs. In fact, this is the third consecutive postseason where Los Angeles has tallied four walks in the opening frame.

In the 2020 postseason, the Dodgers forced Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Brent Suter into four walks in the first inning and five overall in his 1.2 innings of work as Los Angeles scored two in the bottom of the first on its way to a 4-2 decision. The Dodgers would go on to win the World Series.

One year earlier, Los Angeles opened the National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals by forcing Patrick Corbin into four walks in the first inning and five overall in six innings of work as the Dodgers jumped to a 1-0 edge on their way to a 6-0 victory. Washington, however, would rally to eliminate Los Angeles in five games.

So that’s three straight years that the Dodgers have walked four times in the first inning of a postseason game. In MLB history, walking four times in the first inning has only been accomplished six times, per Langs. Another time also involved the Dodgers, but this time it was a Los Angeles pitcher who issued the four walks. Bob Welch surrendered four first-inning passes (two of them intentional) in Game 3 of the 1985 National League Championship Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals would win that game 4-2 and the series in six games before beating the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.

Who are the other two pitchers to walk four batters in the first inning? Anaheim’s Jarrod Washburn in Game 5 of the 2002 World Series against the San Francisco Giants, and Toronto’s Todd Stottlemyre in Game 4 of the 1993 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Stottlemyre, however, holds the distinction of being the only pitcher on the list who had his team win the game, as the Blue Jays posted six runs in the eighth inning to rally to a 15-14 win.