Dodgers suffer excruciating loss, in more ways than one, with walk-off to Braves

ATLANTA — Roki Sasaki left the game early.Then, the Dodgers gave it away late.In an excruciating 6-5 defeat to the Braves on Wednesday night, the Dodgers first lost Sasaki to a middle finger blister.

Then, they lost an early lead on a costly Teoscar Hernández fielding mistake in the fourth.And to top it all off, after they left the bases loaded twice in the seventh and eighth innings, they lost the game on a walk-off single by Ha-Seong Kim in the bottom of the ninth.The Dodgers were in a good spot early, leading 3-1 after Tommy Edman doubled and scored in the second on a Hunter Feduccia RBI single, then hit a two-run homer in the third to further snap out of a 14-for-82 slump over his last 23 games.But in the bottom of the fourth, everything went sideways — starting with the blister on Sasaki’s throwing hand.Though Sasaki hadn’t shown any signs of concern through his first three frames, bouncing back from a run in the first by retiring seven of his next nine, he ran into immediate trouble in the fourth, allowing a leadoff walk, a single, a run-scoring sacrifice fly and a double.That prompted a visit from pitching coach Mark Prior and interpreter Will Ireton.

Before long, Prior was motioning to the dugout for head athletic trainer Thomas Albert.Manager Dave Roberts also made his way out to the mound. Another brief discussion ensued, with Albert inspecting Sasaki’s right hand, which broadcast cameras later showed he had been reaching at earlier in the inning.Finally, the 24-year-old departed from the game.For Sasaki, it represented a speed bump in what had been a resurgent second half this season (he entered Wednesday with a 2.31 ERA over six starts since the All-Star break).For the Dodgers, meanwhile, it was only the beginning of a disastrous inning — one that would get worse on Hernández’s mistake in left field.Facing Edgardo Henriquez fresh out of the bullpen, Braves slugger Drake Baldwin hit a high fly ball deep into the left-field corner.

Hern...