The Los Angeles Dodgers got timely home runs for Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández, helping them defeat the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Friday night. With the win, the Dodgers clinched the National League Division Series. Now, MLB fans will be treated to a cross-country National League Championship Series between Los Angeles and the New York Mets.
Friday night’s matchup in Dodger Stadium pitted two native Japanese pitchers against one another for the first time in MLB history. Yu Darvish went seven innings for the Padres and pitched well. Darvish did surrender both home run balls to the Hernandezes (no relation). But the Padres’ vaunted offense behind Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. was absent.
Los Angeles Dodgers Pitching Was Clutch
That was due, in part, to excellent starting and relief pitching from the Los Angeles Dodgers. They kept those San Diego Padres hitters in check all up and down the starting lineup. It must have been frustrating for San Diego fans to see their power hitters unable to deliver in a Game 5, winner-take-all situation.
While this game gave the Dodgers an NLDS win, their series with the Mets kicks off on Sunday night. So they can celebrate on Friday night and get some rest on Saturday, but it’s back to business pretty quickly. This marked the third time in five years that the Dodgers and Padres have met in an NL Division Series.
TEOSCAR HERNÁNDEZ
SEE
YOU
LATER 😤 #NLDS pic.twitter.com/BQbrAnlUJ9— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
If you were looking for some high-powered offense to watch on the FOX broadcast, then you were disappointed. Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto went five innings before Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to his bullpen. Yamamoto was effective in his start, mixing up his pitches brilliantly. He was the fifth rookie pitcher in Brooklyn-Los Angeles Dodgers history to start a winner-take-all game, The Associated Press reported.
Yamamoto allowed two hits in his time on the mound. He threw 63 pitches, mostly effective, for the Dodgers. Roberts has been known to have a quick trigger when it comes to pitchers sometimes. But his decision-making efforts during the series with the Padres turned out to be excellent.
San Diego Padres Bats Went Silent
For San Diego, its season comes to an end at the hands of the hated Los Angeles Dodgers. Machado was mercilessly booed by a packed Dodger Stadium crowd at every at-bat. Dodgers fans did get a chance to cheer for Machado, but after he swung and missed at a strike-three pitch. A few Padres hitters had some bad luck, hitting line drives right at Dodgers players positioned just right in the infield and outfield.
How bad was the Padres offense down the stretch? Over the last 24 innings in the NLDS, San Diego did not score one run. Nothing. The last time they did was when the Padres took a 2-1 lead while playing at Petco Park.
Winning Friday night’s Game 5 was truly a big deal for the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the first time that the team had won a deciding Game 5 at Dodger Stadium since a 1981 NLDS against the Houston Astros, who were in the National League at the time. The 1981 season was split into halves after a players’ strike interrupted the season.
Los Angeles put together a 98-64 record in the regular season, the best one in MLB this season. Beating San Diego kept the Dodgers from facing a third consecutive NLDS elimination.
The Dodgers led 1-0 on the homer by Kiké Hernández with two outs in the second. It was the 14th career postseason homer for Hernández, who was brought back to the Dodgers this season to make an impact in October. Then, Teoscar Hernández connected for a solo homer in the seventh inning and that, well, was the ballgame.
Now, the Dodgers and New York Mets look to make headlines in the baseball world over what’s shaping up to be a stellar best-of-seven series.
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