LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Dodgers made a surprising and much dissected decision to start Hyun-Jin Ryu over Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the NL Division Series.Swell choice.The South Korean left-hander pitched seven dominant innings and Los Angeles launched three home runs to beat the Atlanta Braves 6-0 on Thursday night. Ryu delivered in his first postseason start since 2014. He allowed four singles — all with two outs — struck out eight and walked none.“He was in control. There was a lot of soft contact http://www.tigersfanproshop.com/authentic-dixon-machado-jersey ,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He was doing what he wanted to do. It was good to see, and we needed that one.”The only slip Ryu made was when he mistook the second out of the fourth inning for the last out and started walking toward the dugout. He laughed upon realizing the gaffe.The 31-year-old Ryu missed 3 1/2 months of the season with a groin strain and returned Aug. 15 to post a 1.88 ERA in 52 2/3 innings.“When he came back we weren’t sure who we were going to get,” teammate Enrique Hernandez said. “It seemed like he didn’t miss a beat.”Dodgers great Sandy Koufax was among those who gave Ryu a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout after his final pitch.“I’m happy that I was able to keep my promise that I would go full-throttle from the get-go,” Ryu said through a translator.Ryu even collected his first career postseason hit with a single in the fourth.The Dodgers set franchise and National League records by hitting 235 homers during the regular season, and their tear continued with three more to begin their playoffs. The defending NL champions actually were outhit 6-5 by Atlanta, but the Braves only got singles.“I don’t really feel like there’s anyone on this team that’s going up there trying to hit a home run,” said Max Muncy, who had a three-run shot with two outs in the second. “It’s just a result of us having a good approach and good at-bats. I feel like a lot of the home runs we’ve had have come off of long at-bats, working the counts and wearing the pitcher down.”Game 2 in the best-of-five matchup is Friday at Dodger Stadium Justin Verlander Jersey , with Kershaw starting for Los Angeles against Anibal Sanchez.“A guy with his pedigree and his track record, we’re pretty excited to have him going tomorrow night,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said of Kershaw.The Braves have lost eight straight series openers in the postseason. They haven’t won a Game 1 since 2001 when they went on to sweep Houston in the NLDS.Rookie Ronald Acuna Jr. struck out twice and went 0 for 4 as the Baby Braves were blanked. This was Atlanta’s first playoff appearance since 2013, when they lost to the Dodgers in four games. Joc Pederson’s leadoff shot in the bottom of the first rattled Mike Foltynewicz in his postseason debut.Foltynewicz gave up four runs and three hits in two innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two. He got out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the first by striking out Yasiel Puig.“If you don’t have your fastball command, they’re going to spit on a lot of things, which they did tonight,” Foltynewicz said.He found trouble again in the second.With two outs, Foltynewicz hit Pederson and walked Justin Turner before Muncy sent a 1-0 pitch over the wall in center Houston Astros Jersey , making it 4-0.“That three-run home run was big for all of us, including me,” Ryu said. Hernandez hit a solo shot with two outs in the sixth off Brad Brach. Pinch-hitter David Freese added a sacrifice fly in the eighth.Ryu allowed a two-out single to Freddie Freeman in the first.After that, he retired 12 consecutive batters before a pair of two-out singles to Ender Inciarte and former Dodger Charlie Culberson in the fifth. Puig charged in on pinch-hitter Kurt Suzuki’s fly to right field to end the inning. The Braves didn’t advance a runner past second base in the game.Ryu gave up another two-out single to Ozzie Albies in the seventh. With fans on their feet waving blue towels and the crowd of 50,947 chanting his name, Ryu got Inciarte on a swinging strikeout to end the inning.“Typically we’re not a team that strikes out a lot, and I think that just the fastball command really kept us off-balance the whole night,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.Relievers Caleb Ferguson, Alex Wood and Dylan Floro completed the shutout.AT HOMERyu was 5-2 with a 1.15 ERA in nine starts at Dodger Stadium in the regular season. The Dodgers went 7-2 in those games. That’s the lowest ERA among pitchers with 50 or more innings at home http://www.astrosfanproshop.com/authentic-gerrit-cole-jersey , according to STATS.UP NEXTRHP Anibal Sanchez (7-6, 2.83 ERA) starts Game 2 for Atlanta. He is 2-4 with a 2.79 ERA in seven postseason starts. He last pitched in the playoffs in 2014 with Detroit. Kershaw (9-5, 2.73) goes for the Dodgers. The veteran ace is 7-7 with a 4.35 ERA in 24 postseason games. He gave up four homers in Game 1 of last year’s NLDS, the most allowed by a Dodgers pitcher in playoff history. SEATTLE (AP) — For a welcome change, the Los Angeles Dodgers made the job easy for manager Dave Roberts after a stretch of close games and debatable moves.Manny Machado hit two of Los Angeles’ five home runs, Walker Buehler allowed one run in six innings, and the Dodgers routed the Seattle Mariners 11-1 to open a key three-game series on Friday night.The Dodgers won consecutive games for just the third time since July 28, using the long ball to knock around Seattle starter Wade LeBlanc and for a night take the pressure off their shaky bullpen. It was the Los Angeles bats leading the way, hitting at least five homers in a game for the sixth time this season.“It was a nice change Hector Rondon Jersey , but those guys, the offense, they were due to break out,” Roberts said.Machado’s first homer led off the fourth inning and was his third since being acquired in a trade with Baltimore. He added a two-run shot in the seventh inning to deep left-center field, where it caromed off the hand of a fan wearing an Orioles jersey with Machado’s name across the back.Machado has 28 homers overall this season and Roberts said his shortstop feels more comfortable now batting third in the Dodgers’ lineup with Justin Turner moving into the No. 2 spot.“I’m not going to say I wasn’t hitting because I was hitting second,” Machado said. “It just happened to be I finally locked myself in and went back to what got me here. It just happened I went back to (hitting) third as well.”Yasmani Grandal, Max Muncy and Matt Kemp also went deep as Los Angeles added to its National League-leading home run total. Kemp’s homer was his first since July 22. The Dodgers have 169 homers this season.LeBlanc (7-3) allowed seven runs, five earned, and lasted just 4 1/3 innings.“I made a few mistakes Anthony Gose Jersey , got away with a couple of them, and three of them I didn’t,” LeBlanc said. “That’s what happens when you run into a good lineup like they have. That’s what they do with mistakes. Especially with stuff like I have, if you’re going to make them against guys like that, they’re going to make you pay.”A long seventh inning at the plate for Los Angeles spelled an early end for Buehler, who was dominant through the first six. Buehler (6-4) allowed just Ryon Healy’s home run leading off the fourth inning. The young right-hander struck out eight and allowed just three hits.Seattle threatened only once when Buehler lost command of his fastball and loaded the bases with one out in the third inning. Buehler got Denard Span to hit a weak grounder and Mitch Haniger was forced out at home plate. Kyle Seager flew out to end the threat.Buehler and two relievers combined to retire 14 straight batters after Healy’s homer until pinch-hitter Gordon Beckham’s two-out single in the eighth.ROTATION CHANGESSeattle is making two changes to its rotation. The first was expected, with Felix Hernandez moving back into the rotation to start for injured lefty James Paxton on Monday when Houston visits to open a key three-game series.The other move was a bit of a surprise with Seattle pushing Marco Gonzales back a few days. Gonzales was slated to start Sunday’s series finale against the Dodgers, but will instead start the series finale against Houston next Wednesday. Seattle’s starter for Sunday has yet to be announced.Manager Scott Servais said with upcoming off days Seattle had a chance to push Gonzales back and essentially give him one start over the next few weeks. Gonzales has thrown a career-high 142 2/3 innings already this season.TRAINER’S ROOMDodgers: RHP Erik Goeddel was placed on the 10-day disabled list with elbow inflammation on Friday. It’s his second stint on the DL in just the past few weeks. Goeddel was activated off the disabled list last Monday after missing time with a lat injury. The Dodgers reinstated right-handed reliever Daniel Hudson from the 10-day DL to take his spot. Hudson had been out since Aug. 7 with forearm tightness.Mariners: SS Jean Segura was placed on the paternity list on Friday. Seattle selected IF Gordon Beckham from Triple-A Tacoma to take Segura’s roster spot.UP NEXTDodgers: Rich Hill (5-4) looks to remain perfect in his career against Seattle. Hill has appeared in 11 games with four starts against Seattle and is 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA. He hasn’t faced the Mariners since the 2016 season.Mariners: Erasmo Ramirez (0-2) tries to follow up on a strong outing last week in Houston. Ramirez threw five shutout innings allowing just four hits in a no-decision.