Cody Snavely
NLDS Game 5, 10/11/2024: Dodgers 2, Padres 0
SAN DIEGO, CA — It all comes down to this: Game five of the National League Division Series between the ninety-eight-win Los Angeles Dodgers and ninety-three-win San Diego Padres in what has been a back-and-forth series up until this point.
Unlike the 2022 Dodgers, who were dethroned in the National League Division Series to the Padres, losing in four games in a rainy, sold-out Petcok Park, they were able to force a winner-take-all game five tonight.
After the Dodgers bullpen tossed nine scoreless innings on seven hits in game four, there was a massive question about the team’s plans for today’s game. Well, those questions were answered last night as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts announced that the team would start rookie right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Yamamoto, who pitched the first game of this series, was lit up by a Padres team that had tormented him all season. He has allowed a total of thirteen runs in just nine innings across three starts.
Opposing him would be 38-year-old veteran right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish, who is pitching in his first winner-take-all game since game seven of the 2017 World Series.
However, Darvish, in game two, turned in a vintage performance, holding the Dodgers to just one run over seven innings, but it will be a tall task against this offense, which has scored thirteen runs over their last two games.
It is also the first time in Major League Baseball history that two Japanese-born pitchers will start in a game facing off against each other, adding to the Hollywood theatrics.
After each starter went blow for blow in the first two innings, the Dodgers struck first with the bat, with a two-out, two-run home run by none other than Kiké Hernández, who added to his career postseason numbers.
Kiké Hernández in seventeen playoff games since 2021: .406 average, six home runs, 12 RBI, 1.200 OPS, and provides the Dodgers with a much-need lead in the ballgame.
After a shaky start in game one, Yamamoto pitched five scoreless innings in tonight’s game and gave the Dodgers exactly what they needed, handing the keys to a bullpen that has been dominant all series.
After a pitching performance for the ages, Yu Darvish entered the seventh inning with his team only down one run. However, facing the Dodgers through a third time through the order did not bode well, as Teoscar Hernández hammered a slow curveball to the left field pavilion, pushing the Dodgers’ lead to two runs with only six outs remaining.
The Dodgers’ pitching staff would hold the San Diego Padres offense scoreless for twenty-four straight innings, with the bullpen leading the charge in game four and the back end in game five.
Despite a low-scoring affair where the top of their order was a no-show tonight, the Dodgers still pulled away with a game-five win and are moving on to the National League Championship Series for the first time since the 2021 season and will face the New York Mets in the best-of-seven series.
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