Yoshinobu Yamamoto spun a gem and Kiké Hernández lived up to his postseason reputation as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres, 2-0, in Game 5 to advance to the National League Championship Series.
The loss was the Padres’ first in franchise history for a winner-take-all situation. They entered 3-0 in such games.
Deliberations over how to craft a pitching plan for the deciding game of the NL Division Series eventually led to the Dodgers trusting Yamamoto. He figured to be closely watched but the Dodgers nevertheless maintained their confidence in the starter who signed the richest contract for a pitcher in MLB history.
“I think that realizing that Yoshinobu is here to be a top-end starter, and this is his time,” manager Dave Roberts said before the game. “I feel that we have really viable candidates behind him. We all feel good about the decision for him to start.”
Yamamoto proceeded to bounce back from a subpar performance in Game 1 as he held the Padres to just one hit over five scoreless innings. He pitched with a slight increase in fastball velocity but that didn’t translate to much swing and miss. Furthermore, the Padres did muster six batted balls of at least a 100 mph exit velocity.
Manny Machado hit two fly balls to the wall in right field in each of his two at-bats against Yamamoto. Fernando Tatis Jr. had an opportunity to tie the game or put the Padres ahead with two on in the third, but he grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Dodgers needed every bit of Yamamoto’s brilliance due to Yu Darvish largely matching his effort.
Darvish’s lone blemish was getting ambushed by Hernández on a first-pitch fastball in the second inning. The home run was Hernández’s 14th of his postseason career.
Darvish retired 13 batters in a row after Hernández’s home run to get through the sixth inning. He continued to particularly flummox Shohei Ohtani, who dropped to 1-for-11 with five strikeouts against Darvish this year.
Darivsh stretched his streak to 14 consecutive batters retired before Teoscar Hernández hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.
Mets vs. Dodgers NLCS schedule
Game 1: Mets @ Dodgers, Sunday, Oct. 13, 5:15 p.m. PT
Game 2: Mets @ Dodgers, Monday, Oct. 14, 1:08 p.m. PT
Game 3: Dodgers @ Mets, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 5:08 p.m. PT
Game 4: Dodgers @ Mets, Thursday, Oct. 17
Game 5*: Dodgers @ Mets, Friday, Oct. 18
Game 6*: Mets @ Dodgers, Sunday, Oct. 20
Game 7*: Mets @ Dodgers, Tuesday, Oct. 22
*if necessary
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