The turning points of Game Six of the NLCS

Saturday night’s 4-2 Braves victory clinching the National League pennant in Game Six of the NLCS turned on one decision point after another.

Particularly in the early innings, both players and managers faced critical moments. Sometimes they came through, sometimes they didn’t.

Here’s a chronological look at six of those decision points.

The key moments in Game Six of the NLCS

Decision point: Dodger impatience. In the top of the first inning, Corey Seager and Trea Turner both faced early chances to see whether Braves starter Ian Anderson would prove as shaky as he had been during his Game 2 appearance. Neither displayed  the patience the moment required.

After Mookie Betts flied out to open the game, Seager stared down three pitches, none of them anywhere near the strike zone. But Seager was in no mood to window shop. At 3-0, he cut at a four-seamer on the outside corner and grounded it to second baseman Ozzie Albies for the inning’s second out.

Having escaped that perilous moment, Anderson faced Turner, who worked the count full, then fouled off a fat changeup. When Anderson followed that change with another – this time shoulder-high – Turner could have taken it for ball four. Instead he hacked and came up empty, allowing Anderson to escape the inning unscathed.

Decision point: An early (minimal) lead. In the bottom of the first, the Braves took a lead they would never relinquish. But they squandered a chance to put Dodger starter Walker Buehler away early.

Eddie Rosario shot Buehler’s third pitch into left field for a clean single. That brought up Freddie Freeman, normally Atlanta’s most dangerous hitter. Not this time; Freeman grounded a sharp double play ball in the direction of second baseman Turner, clearing the bases.

That was even more costly than double plays usually are. The next batter, Ozzie Albies, rocketed a double into right field, and Austin Riley followed with a shot that one-hopped over the wall in left for a ground-rule double.

Riley’s hit scored Albies…but that was the inning’s only run. Freeman’s double play ball ensured there would be no further early damage.

Decision point: Buehler’s escape, part two. The Braves had another legit chance to polish off Buehler in the bottom of the third. With one out, Freeman drew a base on balls and one out later Riley grounded a base hit through the left side of the infield.

With two on and two out, that left the matter of run-production to center fielder Adam Duvall. Having driven in 45 runs in 55 games for the Braves, Duvall fit the profile of the right guy in that spot. But the profile didn’t hold up: Duvall swung at a bad pitch, took a good one, then fished at a Buehler slider and fanned to end the threat.

Decision point: Out-shifting the shift. With two on and two out in the top of the fourth, Bellinger stood in against both Anderson and the Braves shift. Anderson quickly got Bellinger in a 1-2 hole, then tried to fool him with a changeup off the plate. Instead Bellinger crossed up Anderson and the Braves, deftly punching it through the gaps left by the shift in the left side of the infield. Turner easily scored the tying run.

Decision point: The move of the night: The decisive decision-point unfolded in the bottom of that same fourth inning, and it began with a gutsy move by Braves manager Brian Snitker. With two out and catcher Travis d’Arnaud at first thanks to a base on balls, Snitker summoned ace pinch hitter Ehrie Adrianza to bat for Anderson.

With two outs it was a major gamble, but Adrianza did his part, slamming a two-base hit into the right field corner. There was only one hitch: catcher d’Arnaud lacked the legs to actually score the go-ahead run; third base coach Ron Washington had to hold him up.

That left the game still deadlocked at 1-1…but not for long. Rosario swung and missed, fouled two pitches off, took a bad sinker, fouled off two more, then landed on a cutter and propelled it into the right field seats. That hit not only underscored Rosario’s status as the NLCS MVP, it gave the Braves enough margin to wrap up the pennant.

Decision point: One last hurdle. Rosario’s home run gave Atlanta the 4-1 margin they needed, but one final hurdle remained. In the top of the seventh, Snitker faced a decision of which reliever to bring in. He chose wrong…and it nearly cost the Braves dearly.

His choice, right-hander Luke Jackson, was seeking redemption from a pretty putrid NLCS showing. In three previous series appearances, Jackson had faced 11 batters, giving up five hits, a walk and four runs, all of them earned. This time Chris Taylor greeted Jackson with a ringing double off the wall in left, then Jackson walked Bellinger on four pitches.

The third batter Jackson faced, A.J. Pollock, dropped a double just inside the left field line, scoring Chris Taylor with Bellinger reaching third.

With the tying runs in scoring position and none out, Snitker moved to atone for his error. He called in Tyler Matzek to replace Jackson, and Matzek fanned Albert Pujols, got Steven Souza on a called third strike and whiffed Mookie Betts to preserve the 4-2 lead. And, two innings later, that work also preserved the team’s first World Series ticket since 1999.