NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 6, 2026

Walt Weiss

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Dodgers - 3, Braves - 1

Q. With Sale tonight, just working on a lot of traffic in the fourth, maybe hit a wall in the fourth. What did you see from him and when do you think he hit a wall?

WALT WEISS: I thought the stuff was really good. The Dodgers did a good job of really grinding at-bats and running up his pitch count. And they typically do that. They're one of the lower swing rates in the league. They force you into the zone.

And probably the command wasn't perfect, but the stuff was really good still with Chris.

Q. He got the extra day's rest so you got his best tonight. Did you see anything that maybe he wasn't the sharpest? Did it have anything to do with the bullpen game tonight, anything like that?

WALT WEISS: No, he was still touching 100. The stuff was fine. Like I said, maybe the command not perfect. It wasn't bad. But they did a nice job against him.

Q. Even though Chris didn't give up any runs in the first three innings, how much did the stress that he had to pitch through in those do you think contributed to what happened in the fourth?

WALT WEISS: I mean, like I said, they did a nice job of really grinding the at-bats and passing the baton. He had to work hard. He had to work hard to get the outs that he got. But he looked like Chris Sale to me. But they did a nice job.

Q. What was going on with Ronald in terms of the (indiscernible) decision to make that move?

WALT WEISS: Yeah, so Ronald was originally in right field. In Game 2, in the first inning, he slid into second kind of jammed up his knee. He was fine, played the rest of the game without issue.

Came in sore today, and so we made that switch -- but prior to the game. And had him DH instead of running around in right field.

Q. Do you expect him back in the outfield tomorrow? And do you think at all he's pressing at the plate?

WALT WEISS: No, I don't think he's pressing. I'm not sure about tomorrow. We'll see how he feels when he comes in tomorrow.

Q. Along those lines, really good pitching in the playoffs, especially over there. How much do those top three guys -- Acuña, Baldwin and Olson -- to kind of get going here to get where you want to go?

WALT WEISS: Yeah, look, those guys have been our aircraft carriers all year. Every time one of those guys steps in the box, I think something good is going to happen. But we faced some pretty good pitching; that had something to do with it. But those guys, they're always one at-bat away from changing a game.