Braves Level NLDS Behind Bullpen; Chourio Walk-Off Puts Brewers Up 2-0

Atlanta's bullpen silenced the Dodgers to square their NLDS at 1-1, while Jackson Chourio's walk-off single gave Milwaukee a 2-0 lead over San Diego.

The Atlanta Braves answered their opening loss with a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, pulling even in their best-of-five National League Division Series, while the Milwaukee Brewers edged the San Diego Padres 4-3 on a walk-off to take a 2-0 series lead. Both matchups continue Tuesday, with Game 3 in Atlanta and Game 3 in San Diego.

In Los Angeles, a collective pitching performance did the heavy lifting for Atlanta, which held the Dodgers to a pair of solo home runs at Dodger Stadium. The reigning back-to-back World Series champions, chasing a rare treble of titles, went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and received a subdued outing from ace Blake Snell.

Robert Suarez and 21-year-old Didier Fuentes handled the late innings for the Braves, with Fuentes coming within one out of four perfect frames. Catcher Drake Baldwin praised the young reliever's composure. "He was so poised," Baldwin said. "It says a lot about him — he's been doing it for us this entire year and you saw it tonight. We've got a ton of confidence in him and he went out and showed it."

Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy hit solo home runs for Los Angeles, but it was not enough. Mauricio Dubon's single put Atlanta in front early, a wild pitch by Dodgers reliever Kris Bubic brought home another run, and Michael Harris doubled to make it three. The series now shifts to Atlanta for Game 3 on Tuesday.

Earlier Sunday, Venezuela's Jackson Chourio stepped in with the bases loaded and two outs, driving a two-run single up the middle off Padres closer Mason Miller to give the Brewers a 4-3 victory. The winning hit handed Milwaukee a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

"I don't have words for this," Chourio, who sparked the Game 1 rally with a two-run homer, told Fox Sports. "I was just looking for a good pitch to hit there and, you know, thankfully he threw me one that I could do something with." It was the second consecutive day the Brewers came back from a 2-0 deficit to beat San Diego.

The Padres scored in the first inning and stretched their lead to 2-0 in the fifth, capitalizing on Milwaukee's defensive miscues. The Brewers finished with three errors, an uncharacteristic night for a club that won an MLB-best 103 games in the regular season. Milwaukee got one back in the bottom of the fifth when Christian Yelich doubled against starter Michael King and scored on Sal Frelick's single.

San Diego pushed its advantage back to two runs in the seventh before an error by second baseman Jake Cronenworth allowed the Brewers to close within 3-2 in the bottom of the inning, setting up the late dramatics. "We're a team that never backs down," Chourio said. "We're never going to back down from a challenge, and we like these moments. We're going to keep going, and we're going to battle for every opportunity that we get."

San Diego returns home in survival mode, needing to win out to extend its season when the series resumes there Tuesday. The Braves, meanwhile, host the defending champions in Atlanta the same day with their series in the balance.