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Braves Double-Team L.A. Smoltz, Lopez Carry The Load In Braves’ Opening 2-1, 10th-Inning Win

Associated Press

John Smoltz took care of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first nine innings in a dominating performance Wednesday. His catcher finished them off in the 10th.

Smoltz, the major league leader in wins and strikeouts this season, allowed only four hits and Javier Lopez homered off Antonio Osuna as the pitching-rich Atlanta Braves beat the slumping Dodgers 2-1 in 10 innings in the opener of their National League playoff series.

“Obviously, today was a big blow to them,” Smoltz said. “They’re not out of it, but this hurts. This is a big win for us, guaranteed going home with one victory and with (Greg) Maddux going tomorrow.”

Maddux (15-11), the four-time Cy Young Award-winner whose streak will likely be stopped by Smoltz, will pitch for the N.L. East champion Braves in Game 2 of the best-of-5 series tonight against Ismael Valdes (15-7).

“It’s a must-win tomorrow for us,” said Dodgers manager Bill Russell, who lost in his first postseason game as a manager. “We’d hate to go to Atlanta down 2-0.”

As expected, the matchup between the teams with the top two staffs in baseball was a pitching duel. There were nine hits overall, four by Atlanta.

“Low-scoring, whoever catches the break,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “We caught it today.”

Smoltz, 24-8 this year, retired his final 13 batters. He struck out seven, walked two and threw strikes on his last 17 pitches in improving his lifetime postseason record to 6-1.

“It was a great-pitched game all day,” Smoltz said. “I think that’s what everybody expects all series. We play some dull games in the postseason because of our pitching.”

Mark Wohlers, who had a club-record 39 saves, worked around a one-out single by Greg Gagne to preserve the victory for the defending World Series champions.

Ramon Martinez matched Smoltz for eight innings, giving up just three hits. But his bullpen did not do the job as the Dodgers lost their fifth straight game, a streak that cost them the N.L. West title and left them as the wild-card team.

Lopez fell behind 0-2 before working the count full. After fouling off three pitches, he hit a drive far over the fence in right-center field off a 92-mph fastball.

Lopez will be rewarded with a spot on the bench tonight, in favor of Eddie Perez, who frequently catches Maddux. But he said he didn’t mind.

As far as his homer was concerned, Lopez said, “When I fell behind 0-2, the first thing that went through my mind was, ‘I’m going to get jammed.’ So I kept my shoulder closed. That way, if there was a pitch away, I would be able to hit it. So every pitch they threw me, I was ready to hit - or at least make contact.”

He made contact all right, and won the game.

Martinez left after the eighth, having thrown 131 pitches. With his last pitch, he retired Mark Lemke on a grounder with a runner at third.

Martinez struck out six and walked three.

The Dodgers scored their run in the fifth on a leadoff double by Gagne and two-out double by rookie Todd Hollandsworth, who finished the regular season with just two hits in his final 23 at-bats.

The run snapped a 21-inning scoreless streak for the Dodgers, who hadn’t scored since the third inning Saturday in the next-to-last game of the season - a 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.

Atlanta took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Marquis Grissom singled, stole second, went to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by Fred McGriff.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Braves 2, Dodgers 1 Atlanta Los Angels ab r h bi ab r h bi Grssom cf 4 1 1 0 Kirby cf 4 0 1 0 Lemke 2b 4 0 0 0 Hlndsw lf 4 0 1 1 CpJnes 3b 2 0 0 0 Piazza c 4 0 1 0 McGrff 1b 3 0 1 1 Karros 1b 3 0 0 0 Klesko lf 1 0 0 0 Mndsi rf 4 0 0 0 Pndlton ph 1 0 0 0 Wllach 3b 4 0 0 0 AJones lf 0 0 0 0 DeShld 2b 4 0 0 0 JLopez c 4 1 1 1 Gagne ss 4 1 2 0 Dye rf 4 0 0 0 RMrtnz p 3 0 0 0 Blauser ss 3 0 1 0 Rdnsky p 0 0 0 0 Whlers p 0 0 0 0 Osuna p 0 0 0 0 Smoltz p 2 0 0 0 DClark ph 1 0 0 0 Polonia ph 1 0 0 0 Blliard ss 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 2 4 2 Totals 35 1 5 1 Atlanta 000 100 000 1 - 2 Los Angeles 000 010 000 0 - 1 E-JLopez (1). DP-Los Angeles 2. LOBAtlanta 4, Los Angeles 6. 2B-Hollandsworth (1), Gagne (1). HR-JLopez (1). SB- Grissom (1), Klesko (1). CS-CpJones (1), McGriff (1), Blauser (1), Kirby (1). S-Smoltz. SF-McGriff. Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO Smoltz W,1-0 9 4 1 1 2 7 Wohlers S,1 1 1 0 0 0 2 Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO RMartinez 8 3 1 1 3 6 Radinsky 1/3 0 0 0 1 0 Osuna L,0-1 1-2/3 1 1 1 0 3 HBPby Osuna (Blauser). T-3:08. A-47,428 (56,000).

This sidebar appeared with the story: Braves 2, Dodgers 1 Atlanta Los Angels ab r h bi ab r h bi Grssom cf 4 1 1 0 Kirby cf 4 0 1 0 Lemke 2b 4 0 0 0 Hlndsw lf 4 0 1 1 CpJnes 3b 2 0 0 0 Piazza c 4 0 1 0 McGrff 1b 3 0 1 1 Karros 1b 3 0 0 0 Klesko lf 1 0 0 0 Mndsi rf 4 0 0 0 Pndlton ph 1 0 0 0 Wllach 3b 4 0 0 0 AJones lf 0 0 0 0 DeShld 2b 4 0 0 0 JLopez c 4 1 1 1 Gagne ss 4 1 2 0 Dye rf 4 0 0 0 RMrtnz p 3 0 0 0 Blauser ss 3 0 1 0 Rdnsky p 0 0 0 0 Whlers p 0 0 0 0 Osuna p 0 0 0 0 Smoltz p 2 0 0 0 DClark ph 1 0 0 0 Polonia ph 1 0 0 0 Blliard ss 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 2 4 2 Totals 35 1 5 1 Atlanta 000 100 000 1 - 2 Los Angeles 000 010 000 0 - 1 E-JLopez (1). DP-Los Angeles 2. LOBAtlanta 4, Los Angeles 6. 2B-Hollandsworth (1), Gagne (1). HR-JLopez (1). SB- Grissom (1), Klesko (1). CS-CpJones (1), McGriff (1), Blauser (1), Kirby (1). S-Smoltz. SF-McGriff. Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO Smoltz W,1-0 9 4 1 1 2 7 Wohlers S,1 1 1 0 0 0 2 Los Angeles IP H R ER BB SO RMartinez 8 3 1 1 3 6 Radinsky 1/3 0 0 0 1 0 Osuna L,0-1 1-2/3 1 1 1 0 3 HBPby Osuna (Blauser). T-3:08. A-47,428 (56,000).