There were things I had to realize quickly and I did with the help of Chris

ATLANTA (AP) — Freddie Freeman put the Atlanta Braves ahead http://www.chicagocubsteamshop.com/authe...ell-jersey , then watched from first base as they almost give away the lead — and possibly their whole season.“My heart’s still pounding,” he said, moments after the last out. “That’s how we’ve been all year.”Reliever Arodys Vizcaino escaped his own jam in a nervy ninth inning and the Braves stopped the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-5 Sunday night, avoiding a sweep and cutting their deficit in the NL Division Series to 2-1.“I like our chances. We’ve got a uniform on, so we know we’ve got a chance,” Freeman said.Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a grand slam that helped the Braves build an early 5-0 lead. After the Dodgers rallied to tie it, Freeman homered in the sixth.In the ninth, the Dodgers got runners on first and second with no outs after a single and a walk. Vizcaino came back from a 3-0 count to strike out slugger Max Muncy, and followed up by fanning Manny Machado on a wild pitch that moved the runners to second and third.Because the Braves had already used their allotment of six mound visits, no one could go out to talk with the Atlanta closer, to give him a moment to settle down.Not that he needed a break, apparently.With the entire crowd at SunTrust Park standing, chanting and chopping, Vizcaino fanned a swinging Brian Dozier to end it.“Credit to our guys for fighting back,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “… We had our chances. And those guys made some pitches and got out of some traffic, but our guys stressed them, got on base, and gave ourselves an opportunity. But yeah, to take us over the top and take the lead again, we couldn’t get that one extra hit.”Game 4 is Monday afternoon at Atlanta.Shut out in the first two games at Dodger Stadium http://www.chicagocubsteamshop.com/authe...osa-jersey , the NL East champion Baby Braves bounced back.Acuna connected in the second, right after Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler walked Braves starter Sean Newcomb on four pitches with the bases loaded.“He continues to amaze,” Freeman said of Acuna. “I don’t think we needed or wanted anybody else in that situation.”Roberts stuck with Buehler, who allowed no baserunners in the next three innings.“It was good to see him recalibrate and give us five innings to at some point save our pen,” Roberts said.Buehler gave up five runs on only two hits and three walks in five innings.“This one is on me,” Buehler said, adding there is “no excuse for the second inning. … Sometimes you just lose it. I’m proud of the way I found the zone again after that and moving forward.”Freeman connected on the first pitch from former teammate Alex Wood to put Atlanta back on top.“Hopefully we’ll have some more big moments during this postseason and this isn’t the only one,” Freeman said. Chris Taylor hit a two-run homer and Muncy added a tying homer in the fifth to lead the comeback for Los Angeles.Tagged at the outset, Buehler regained control as the Dodgers began their rally. Newcomb was pulled after walking a pair of walks in the third and Justin Turner hit an RBI single off Kevin Gausman. Taylor also scored when Acuna bobbled the ball in left field for an error.Taylor connected off Gausman, and Muncy added a tying homer off Max Fried in the fifth.The Dodgers threatened in the sixth. Matt Kemp led off the inning with a double, but with one out was thrown out on shortstop Charlie Culberson’s throw to the plate.MICKEY WHO?At 20, Acuna became the youngest player to hit a postseason grand slam — Mickey Mantle was 21 when he did it for the New York Yankees in the 1953 World Series.Mantle? That’s a new name for Acuna.“No, I don’t recognize him,” he said through a translator. “I wasn’t even born.”NO SWEEP FOR YOULos Angeles was denied its second straight NLDS sweep after winning three straight over Arizona in 2017.RECORD ATTENDANCEThe attendance was 42,385, setting a SunTrust Park record in the second-year stadium’s first postseason game.UP NEXTThe Dodgers are expected to start LHP Rich Hill (11-5, 3.66) when the series continues on Monday. Hill pitched seven scoreless innings in an 8-2 win over Atlanta on July 26.The Braves will start RHP Mike Foltynewicz, who gave up four runs and three hits in two innings in Thursday night’s 6-0 Game 1 loss.“He’s raring to go and itching to get the ball, and it’s still elimination,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “So we’re going to try and go with the best we got.” DENVER — Colorado left-hander Kyle Freeland Joe Maddon Jersey , who has been remarkably consistent all season and particularly effective at Coors Field, will start Friday for the surging Rockies against the Washington Nationals.The Rockies took another step Thursday toward making the postseason in back-to-back years for the first time in their 26-year history with a 5-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday. A four-game sweep of the Phillies has extended Colorado’s winning streak to a season-high-tying seven games and reduced their magic number for a postseason appearance to two.In quest of their first National League West title, the Rockies (89-70) lead the division by one game over the Los Angeles Dodgers (88-71), who were off Thursday. The Rockies are two games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals for the second NL wild-card spot. The Cardinals were also idle Thursday.Article continues below ...Freeland (16-7, 2.84) will oppose Joe Ross (0-1, 4.09), who will make his third start for the Nationals since returning from Tommy John surgery in July 2017.Freeland is 7-0, 2.10 in his past 10 starts, nine of which the Rockies have won. The Rockies are 22-10 in games started by Freeland, who has recorded 10 consecutive quality starts and 23 this season.He’s 9-2, 2.36 in 14 starts at Coors Field and ranks third in home ERA among NL pitchers, trailing only Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets (1.54) and the Cardinals’ Miles Mikolas (2.17).Freeland, 25, was 0-3, 5.85 after his first four starts this season. At that point, he and catcher Chris Iannetta realized Freeland had to come inside more often with his four-seam fastball to right-handed hitters. At the same time, Freeland was beginning to get better results from his changeup as a result of following a suggestion from bullpen coach Darren Holmes and dragging his left toe hard when throwing the pitch to take velocity off it.After those first four starts, Freeland has gone 16-4, 2.50 in his subsequent 28 starts, limiting opponents to a .229 average and .629 OPS.“It was early in the season http://www.chicagocubsteamshop.com/authe...ras-jersey ,” Freeland said. “I knew there was a long way to go, and there’s no reason to wash this season just because my first four starts weren’t what I wanted them to be.“There were things I had to realize quickly and I did with the help of Chris and our pitching coaches, realizing we had to stay with my strengths. We have to pitch inside. We have to make the hitters uncomfortable. We can’t just let them get extension all the time and hope that that two-seam (fastball) just gets hit in the ground every single time, because that’s just not going to happen over the course of 30-32 starts.”Freeland is 1-0, 3.72 in two starts against Washington. Ross is 0-0, 9.64 in one four-inning relief appearance against the Rockies on April 25, 2017, at Coors Field.Ross gave up four runs (three earned) in six innings Friday in a 95-pitch start against the Mets and was the losing pitcher as the Nationals fell 4-2.“The uncertainty of how it will end, if you’ll be back, was the toughest part, I think, for me,” Ross told the Washington Post before his first start for the Nationals earlier this month, referring to his comeback from Tommy John surgery. “But I kind of just went day-by-day, and I am back here now, so it paid off in the end.”