With the National League Championship Series tied at two games apiece, Game 5 was key, and ultimately the Los Angeles Dodgers came away with a 5-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers to take a 3-2 series lead.
The Dodgers offense had been struggling for much of the series but was able to come up with five runs in the fifth inning or later, surprisingly without the luxury of a home run. Los Angeles had nine total hits in the game, with seven of them being singles.
One of those big hits came off the bat of Max Muncy in the sixth inning to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead, and they then tacked on three more and held on for the victory.
The Dodgers did strike out 12 times in Game 5, and Muncy fell victim three times. However, he is not concerned about that or the team piling on strikeouts as he is just focused on getting hits, via Blake Richardson of the L.A. Times:
“At this point in the year, strikeouts don’t really matter,” Muncy said. “What matters is just finding a way to get the big hit.”
That philosophy has grown not only in the Dodgers organization, but all throughout baseball throughout the last few seasons. The Dodgers have struck out 61 times through the first five games of the NLCS.
That’s compared to Brewers, who have gone down 52 times, which leaves both clubs on record-setting paces.
One thing that was noticeably different in the late innigns of Game 5 was Dodgers players appearing more focused and content with getting singles, often going up the middle and to the opposite field, instead of trying to hit home runs.
So if they continue to take that approach then they have a good chance of closing out the Brewers in Game 6 back at Miller Park.
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