LOS ANGELES (CNS) – The Dodgers will begin the National League Championship Series Sunday against the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium after rallying for a victory over the San Diego Padres in a National League Division Series.
Kiké Hernandez and Teoscar Hernández hit solo home runs and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and four relievers limited the Padres to two hits as the Dodgers completed a comeback from a two games to one deficit with a 2-0 victory Friday night at Dodger Stadium to win the best-of-five series three games to two.
Yamamoto, Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen retired the final 19 batters, the second-most to end a postseason winner-take- all game, behind only the 2015 Kansas City Royals, who retired the final 22 batters in their 7-2 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 5 of an American League Division Series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Major League Baseball’s official statistician.
The Padres had three batters reach base, the third fewest in a winner- take-all postseason game behind the Houston Astros in their 2015 American League Division Series against Kansas City and New York Mets in a 2022 National League Wild Card Series against the Padres, who both had two.
San Diego had one runner in scoring position. Kyle Higashioka and Luis Arraez hit back-to-back singles with one out in the third but the threat ended when Fernando Tatis Jr. grounded into a double play.
The Dodgers opened the scoring in the second inning when Kiké Hernandez sent Yu Darvish’s two-out four-seam fastball 428 feet over the center field fence.
The home run was Hernandez’s 14th in postseason play, 20th on the all- time list and eighth among active players. His nine as a Dodger are tied for sixth in franchise history
Teoscar Hernández hit a slider from Darvish 420 feet over the left field fence with one out in the seventh.
Yamamoto (1-0) allowed two hits over five innings, striking out two and walking one before a crowd announced at 53,183.
“He set the tone,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I think that Yoshi’s had a lot of success in his professional career. I said it before; he’s pitched in big ball games. And I believed in him. I knew he was going to rise to the occasion.
“He was outstanding tonight. And I knew he wasn’t going to run from this spot. I’m looking forward to riding him through the World Series.”
Treinen needed nine pitches to retire the Padres in order in the ninth for his second save of the series.
Darvish (1-1) was charged with the loss, allowing both runs on three hits while striking out four and walking two in 6 2/3 innings in the first MLB postseason matchup between two Japanese-born starting pitchers.
“I thought Yu was magnificent again,” San Diego manager Mike Shildt said. “Had them off balance. Couple of swings got him. Other than that, he was really good.”
The Padres never scored again after scoring six runs in the second inning of Game 3 Tuesday in their 6-5 victory getting shut out for the their final 24 innings.
The 24-inning scoreless streak to end a postseason series is the third- longest behind the 33 innings by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1966 World Series against the Dodgers and the 28 by the New York Giants against the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1905 World Series, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
The Dodgers forced a fifth game with an 8-0 victory in Game 4 Wednesday at Petco Park.
The Dodgers lost to the Padres in four games in a National League Division Series in 2022 and were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks in a 2023 division series.
When asked how this series ranked in terms of the intensity among those he had been involved with as a player or manger, Roberts responded that it rivaled the 2004 American League Championship Series when his ninth-inning stolen base as a pinch-runner in Game 4 ignited a comeback that led the Boston Red Sox to becoming the first team in MLB history to win a series after losing the first three games, the Dodgers overcoming a three games to one deficit against the Atlanta Braves in the 2020 National League Championship Series and the 2021 National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants when the Dodgers also rallied to overcome a two games to one deficit.
“You’re talking about one of the best teams in baseball over there,” Roberts said. “And Mike and his staff did a great job preparing those guys. And it was a dogfight. I’ve got nothing but respect for those guys over there.
“But to kind of win this series how we did, to kind of fall behind — and those guys coming into the postseason had a lot of momentum — speaks to the character of our guys. This is right up there.”
Roberts said Friday’s game was “the most stress I’ve been in” as a manager “in quite some time.”
“Even Game 4 where you have seven or eight guys that you’re going to go to and you know their lanes, when you have a starter and you don’t know when to deploy and get the carousel going, that adds stress and anxiety,” Roberts said.
“So with that and what was at stake and a team that had momentum and kind of took care of business against us two years ago, it was a huge series. So, I felt that kind of gravity.”
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