ATLANTA –– Two superstar pitchers were on the mound.

Two teams’ seasons were essentially hanging in the balance.

And in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, an all-time, old-fashioned, heavyweight October pitchers’ duel came down to two no-doubt, home run swings.

With a 3-1 win on Tuesday night that represented a monumental step forward in their pursuit of a third-straight World Series, the Dodgers and Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the best of Chris Sale and the Atlanta Braves.

“I don’t feel I outpitched Chris Sale tonight,” Yamamoto, ever-modest, said through his interpreter after.

The box score (and the final score), however, told a different story.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws to the Atlanta Braves during the third inning. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Andy Pages, Enrique Hernández and Freddie Freeman celebrate after Hernández hit a two-run home run during the fourth inning. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

Sale gave up a pair of home runs in the top of the fourth inning, with Kiké Hernández launching a two-run blast to left and Freddie Freeman belting a solo shot to right-center. 

Yamamoto made the lead stand up, spinning seven spectacular innings of one-run ball in his latest playoff gem.

Now, the Dodgers hold a 2-1 lead in this best-of-five series, needing just one more victory to advance with Tyler Glasnow lined up for Game 4 and Tarik Skubal on deck for a Game 5, if it gets there.

They stared down a daunting task against Sale, arguably the best pitcher they’ve faced at any point in the last three postseasons, and rose to the challenge the way they so often have while cementing their dynasty.

“We played tonight like an elimination game,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think collectively it was probably one of our better performances, certainly [against] the starter, as far as 1 through 9 [in the lineup].”

Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale throws to the Los Angeles Dodgers during the second inning. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

On the eve of Game 3’s titanic pitching clash, Dodgers hitting coach Aaron Bates laid out the situation succinctly.

To go deep in the playoffs, he said, “you’re gonna have to beat some really good pitchers … You’re gonna have to face an ace.”

That, of course, applied to both teams Tuesday, with Yamamoto making his 2026 postseason debut coming off a 14-9, 2.53 ERA regular season –– and his World Series MVP heroics during last year’s title run.

Still, the left-handed Sale offered up a unique challenge, entering Tuesday in the wake of a career-best 2.16 ERA this year (even better than his 2024 Cy Young campaign), two clutch performances in last week’s wild-card round, and a five-hit shutout of the Dodgers the last time he faced them in August.

“We know we’re in for a battle,” veteran Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas said pregame.

Thus, the Dodgers made adjustments.

Hernández and Rojas were drawn into the starting lineup, replacing Max Muncy and Tommy Edman to give the club two extra right-handed bats. Banged-up slugger Shohei Ohtani was also dropped to the No. 5 spot in the batting order, the lowest he had hit since the 2020 season with the Angels.

“I just feel this gives us the best chance to beat the Braves today, and combat Sale,” Roberts explained pregame. “I feel good about it.”

Indeed, the Dodgers had Sale under pressure early and often, putting runners in scoring position in each of their first three trips to the plate (including a bases-loaded opportunity in the third) while driving up his pitch count with stressful, laborious innings.

Still, those were nothing but moral victories initially, with Sale wiggling out of each threat to keep the game scoreless –– with the help of outfielder Mauricio Dubón robbing Freeman of a surefire two-run homer on a leaping, full-sprint effort at the short wall in left in the third.

“We felt really good about our at-bats,” Freeman said. “We just missed. They made good plays. That’s kind of how it was going. “

An inning later, however, the Dodgers would finally break through.

Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Enrique Hernandez circles the bases after hitting a two-run home run. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Enrique Hernández celebrates his two-run home run during the fourth inning. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

In his latest bit of postseason heroics, it was Hernández who broke the deadlock from the No. 9 spot, getting a changeup from Sale that caught too much of the inside corner of the plate and sending it screaming out to left for a two-run homer.

It was the 17th home run of Hernández’s illustrious playoff career. It was a drive he celebrated with a primal scream as he rounded first base. And it turned a tense Truist Park crowd silent, save for raucous reception coming from the visiting third-base dugout.

“We needed a little bit of that Kiké dust,” Roberts quipped.

Two batters later, the Dodgers bench would be going wild again.

Making his first postseason appearance in Atlanta since leaving the Braves for the Dodgers as a free agent five years ago, Freeman made sure not to be robbed again.

He squared up an inside fastball from Sale and uncorked a towering 399-foot bomb, sending it safely over the brick wall in right-center to make it a 3-0 game.

“It certainly speaks to the experience, the buy-in,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ team-wide approach. “If you don’t get results [early in the game] when you’re committed to kind of grinding, sometimes it’s easy to come off of that. But I thought tonight from start to finish we did a good job of grinding.”

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman hits a solo home run during the fourth inning. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, left, and Miguel Rojas (72) celebrate Freeman’s solo home run during the fourth inning. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson

Of Sale’s 13 career playoff appearances, Tuesday was the first since his postseason debut in 2017 in which he had given up multiple home runs. And though the Dodgers have yet to score any way other than the long ball this series –– falling to 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position after another hitless showing in that category Tuesday –– Yamamoto made sure the two big flies would stand up.

Tapping back into his historically dominant form from last October, Yamamoto largely breezed through a four-hit, one-walk, 10-strikeout masterpiece, burying the Braves with a flurry of fastballs, curveballs and splitters in a 98-pitch effort.

He faced his only real trouble in the fifth, when he limited the Braves to just one run from a bases-loaded, one-out jam. 

And by the time he turned things over to the bullpen –– where Tanner Scott and, in his return to closing duties, Edwin Díaz finished off the game –– he had already outlasted Sale (who departed after the fifth) and put the Dodgers on track to a pivotal Game 3 victory.