Ray Kerr quit baseball in community college and went to work at a 7-Eleven. On Sunday night he opens a Division Series game at Dodger Stadium.
Chris Sale will not start Game 2. Atlanta is going with another bullpen game, and Kerr gets the ball first.
How to watch
Braves at Dodgers, NLDS Game 2
Sunday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT
Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
TV: FS1
Spanish: FOX Deportes
Streaming: FOX One
Radio: 680 AM and 93.7 FM The Fan in Atlanta with Spanish on La Mejor 1600, 1460 and 1130 AM, ESPN Radio
National League games are on FOX and FS1 this round. American League games are on TBS and truTV.
FS1 requires a package that includes it, and is carried on YouTube TV, Hulu Live, Fubo, Sling and DirecTV Stream.
Lineups
Atlanta: Drake Baldwin C, Ronald Acuna Jr. RF, Matt Olson 1B, Ozzie Albies 2B, Michael Harris II CF, Mauricio Dubon SS, Sean Murphy DH, Austin Riley 3B, Lane Thomas LF.
Los Angeles: Mookie Betts SS, Shohei Ohtani DH, Will Smith C, Freddie Freeman 1B, Teoscar Hernandez LF, Kyle Tucker RF, Andy Pages CF, Miguel Rojas 3B, Tommy Edman 2B.
Miguel Rojas starts at third against the left-hander. Max Muncy, who homered in Game 1, is available off the bench and is Los Angeles's best option against right-handed relief.
Lane Thomas is in left for Atlanta after a stint on the injured list with a side issue.
Ray Kerr
Kerr is 32, from Sacramento, and pitched at two California community colleges. He grew up in foster care and left baseball during junior college to work at a 7-Eleven and a movie theater.
A stint in the Alaska Baseball League got him a minor league contract with Seattle. He reached Triple-A, was traded to San Diego, and debuted in 2022 against the Dodgers.
Atlanta acquired him after the 2023 season. He spent most of this year recovering from elbow surgery and did not pitch for the Braves until Aug. 17.
In nine appearances since, he has a 1.47 ERA with 11 strikeouts, two walks and two home runs allowed in 18 1/3 innings. Opponents are hitting .150.
He opened Game 3 of the Wild Card Series against Philadelphia and allowed one hit over 3 1/3 scoreless innings. He threw 47 pitches, so he may be limited Sunday on two days' rest.
Why Sale isn't pitching
Sale started Game 1 of the Wild Card Series and threw 95 pitches. He came back Thursday on his normal bullpen day and threw 21 more to record the final four outs of the clincher.
That left him unavailable to start Game 2 on what would have been regular rest. He made only two starts all season on regular rest, the most recent on April 6.
Walt Weiss said Sale will pitch in this series and that it does not matter when. He is in line for Game 3 in Atlanta on Tuesday and could still appear in Game 5.
Grant Holmes is expected to follow Kerr. He threw two innings of relief Thursday. Didier Fuentes can go multiple innings, and Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias have had rest.
Blake Snell
Snell is 4-1 with a 1.90 ERA and 55 strikeouts over 42 2/3 innings in nine starts. He missed the start of the season with left shoulder fatigue and then three more months with loose bodies in his throwing elbow.
Since August he has gone five or more innings in six of eight starts and allowed no more than one run in any of them. He had a 1.17 ERA in August and a 1.08 in September.
He is 7-5 with a 3.27 ERA in 18 career postseason games across four postseasons with Tampa Bay, San Diego and Los Angeles. He took the loss in Game 5 of last year's World Series, then threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief in Game 7 on two days' rest.
His only start against Atlanta this season came May 9, when the Braves scored five on six hits in three innings. He is 0-3 with a 3.49 ERA in six career appearances against them.
Game 1
Los Angeles won 5-3. Tarik Skubal retired 15 straight Atlanta batters in his first Dodgers playoff start.
Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Kyle Tucker added a two-run shot in the sixth and Max Muncy followed with a solo home run. Sean Murphy and Ozzie Albies went deep for Atlanta, Albies in the ninth.
Dylan Dodd threw three scoreless innings as Atlanta's opener, allowing two hits with four strikeouts on 47 pitches.
The World Baseball Classic connections
Los Angeles sent five active players to the tournament in March. Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto played for Japan, Hyeseong Kim for Korea, Will Smith for the United States and Edwin Diaz for Puerto Rico. Clayton Kershaw was on the Team USA staff.
Atlanta sent Ronald Acuna Jr. to Venezuela, Ozzie Albies and Chadwick Tromp to the Netherlands, Mauricio Dubon and Nacho Alvarez Jr. to Mexico, Javy Guerra to Panama and Dane Dunning to South Korea. Hall of Famer Andruw Jones managed the Netherlands.
Venezuela beat the United States 3-2 in the final.
The series schedule
Game 1 — Los Angeles 5, Atlanta 3
Game 2 — Sunday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m. ET, Los Angeles
Game 3 — Tuesday, Oct. 6, 6 p.m. ET, Atlanta
Game 4 — Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6 p.m. ET, Atlanta, if necessary
Game 5 — Friday, Oct. 9, 8 p.m. ET, Los Angeles, if necessary
Games 2, 3 and 4 are on FS1. Game 5 is on FOX. The winner plays in the National League Championship Series beginning Oct. 11.
Elsewhere
Milwaukee beat San Diego 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the other National League series. Jackson Chourio singled home two with two outs in the ninth off Mason Miller.
The American League series resume Monday. Chicago leads Cleveland 1-0 and will open Game 2 with Anthony Kay. Tampa Bay leads New York 1-0 after Drew Rasmussen allowed one hit over eight innings.