LOS ANGELES — The boisterous Los Angeles Dodgers fans stood on their feet Friday night, screamed so loud it could be heard in Pasadena and watched their beloved team wildly celebrate its biggest victory in years.
The Dodgers, in perhaps the most anticipated season in franchise history, took a giant step toward the World Series by swatting away the San Diego Padres, winning 2-0 in Game 5 of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium.
Next up: The New York Mets, who they will face Sunday in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.
“We didn’t come here to win the NL West,’ said Dodgers center fielder Enrique Hernandez, whose homer in the second inning was all they needed. “We came to win the World Series.’’
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the $325 million man, rose to the occasion just when his team needed him the most.
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He was brilliant for five innings, just giving up two hits and a walk, proving that the Dodgers made the right call giving him the ball despite his struggles against the Padres in Game 1.
The bullpen did the rest, and when the smoke cleared, the Dodgers had shut out the Padres in 24 consecutive innings.
The only time Yamamoto was ever in trouble was in the third inning when Kyle Higashioka and Luis Arráez produced back-to-back one-out singles, bringing up Fernando Tatis Jr., who has tormented the Dodgers.
Yamamoto fell behind 3-and-1 but got Tatis to hit a weak ground ball to third baseman Max Muncy, starting a double play.
It was the last sign of life from the Padres’ offense.
The Padres’ power outage ruined Yu Darvish’s spectacular outing – in which he and Yamamoto were the first Japanese pitchers to face one another in a postseason game. Darvish gave up just three hits and two runs in 6⅔ innings and overpowered Shohei Ohtani, who struck out three times Friday.
“For us to be able to go out there and pitch on the same day, a playoff game,’ Darvish said before his start, “it means a lot. … I think the level of baseball in Japan has risen and it’s actually showing over here. So, it’s really good to see all these players that come over here be successful.’
These pitchers were so dominant that they retired 26 consecutive batters at one juncture, the longest streak in a single game in MLB postseason history.
Despite the brilliant pitching, it was the Hernández duo who stole the show.
Darvish had retired 14 consecutive batters after giving up the home run to Enrique Hernández, and then gave up another homer to cleanup hitter Teoscar Hernández on a 2-and-1 slider with one out in the seventh inning.
“This,’ Teoscar Hernández said, “is why I came here.’’
Still, it was Enrique Hernández who set the tone for the game. He was on the field two hours before game time, getting ready for batting practice, when he was summoned by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations.
They talked intently by the batting cage for about 10 minutes, Hernandez excused himself, took a round of batting practice, and the conversation continued for another five minutes.
Well, whatever was said, whatever was expressed, whatever secrets that were exchanged, worked like a charm.
Hernández, jumping on the first pitch he saw from Darvish, sent his 94.7-mph fastball 429 feet away into the left-field seats. It was just the latest chapter of his October heroics. He now has 14 career postseason home runs.
“The way I see it,’ Hernández said, “is these types of games are the ones we’ve been dreaming of since we were little kids. You’ve got to have the right mindset, the right mentality, to come in here and just find a way to dominate the day.
“I think something that’s worked for me is the fact that I’ve had a lot of experience in these moments.’
The secret sauce, Hernández said, is visualizing success when he goes to bed the night before the game.
“There’s anxiety and things like that that we go through as athletes, especially in big situations, big games, especially in October’ Hernández said. ‘And whenever you feel that little anxiety or whatever it is creep in, you just go back to visualizing yourself having success.
“You just find a way, whatever it is that you’ve got to find, so that when the big moment shows up, and you step up to the plate or whatever it is, you don’t let the moment get too big. You feel like you’re bigger than the moment and there’s no moment that’s going to get too big for you.
“That’s my mentality.’
This entire Dodgers team, of course, has been visualizing a World Series since spring training. They now find themselves eight victories away from finally having their first World Series parade since 1988.
The Dodgers won the World Series in 2020, but that was in the height of the pandemic, winning the championship at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas, returning home, and going back into isolation.
“If there’s something that this crowd is,’’ Enrique Hernandez said, “it’s hungry. They want a championship. They want another one. The one we had a couple years back, the city didn’t get to celebrate it because of obvious circumstances.
“We know how bad they want it.’
The only team that stands in their way now of a World Series berth is the Mets, the same team they stunned in 1988 in the NLCS before winning the World Series against the Oakland A’s.
But now that they’ve knocked off the Padres, who ended their season two years ago, they believe nothing can stop them.
“We have a lot of people that believe in each other,’’ Enrique Hernandez said. “We have a bullpen that does not care at all whatsoever, and they’re nasty. We have a high-octane offense.
“We’re hungry. We want it. We’re in it together.’
Here’s how Friday’s game unfolded at Dodger Stadium:
FINAL: Dodgers 2, Padres 0
Getting another dominant pitching performance, the Los Angeles Dodgers punched their ticket to the NLCS with a 2-0 win over the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the NLDS on Friday.
Starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave the Dodgers five scoreless innings and the game’s only runs came on solo homers from Enrique Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez.
Vesia injured during warmups, Michael Kopech handles eighth
Warming up for the top of the eighth inning, Dodgers lefty Alex Vesia had a sudden injury and was removed from the game, having recorded the final out in the seventh.
With a 2-0 lead, Michael Kopech came in for the Dodgers in the biggest game of his career and retired the Padres 1-2-3.
Teoscar Hernández home run makes it 2-0
San Diego brought Yu Darvish back out for the seventh inning and with one out, Teoscar Hernández crushed a solo home run to double the Dodgers’ lead.
In his first year with the Dodgers, Hernandez finished the regular season with a career best-33 homers and won the 2024 Home Run Derby.
Bottom 7: Dodgers 1, Padres 0
Evan Phillips retired all five batters he faced, striking out 3, and gave way to lefty Alex Vesia for the next leg of the Dodgers’ bullpen relay with two outs in the top of the seventh.
Vesia struck out rookie sensation Jackson Merrill to send the game to the bottom of the seventh.
Yamamoto done after 5 scoreless, Evan Phillips in for Dodgers
Exceeding even the most optimistic of expectations, Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched five shutout innings in Game 5, giving up just two hits with one walk, handing off to Dodgers reliever Evan Phillips for the sixth.
Dodgers lead 1-0 through four
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has tossed four scoreless innings in the biggest game of his (brief) MLB career, while Enrique Hernández’s solo home run in the second remains the only scoring so far.
Enrique Hernández home run puts Dodgers ahead
After Will Smith grounded into a double play, Enrique Hernández crushed a solo home run to left field to put the Dodgers ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the second.
It was the 14th career postseason homer for Hernández, who is playing in the playoffs for the ninth time.
Yamamoto through two scoreless innings
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto needed just 24 pitches – 17 strikes – to get through the first two innings in Game 5. The $325 man hasn’t given up a hit but walked Xander Bogaerts with two outs in the top of the second.
Dodgers vs. Padres Game 5 underway
Yoshinobu Yamamoto set the Padres down 1-2-3 to begin Game 5 at Dodger Stadium with a groundout from Luis Arraez, a strikeout of Fernando Tatis Jr. and a Jurickson Profar lineout.
Dave Roberts couldn’t have asked for a better first inning.
Yu Darvish vs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto in historic game for Japanese pitchers
Friday’s matchup is the first postseason game started by two Japanese pitchers.
“It’s a great thing that we’re able to go at it with each other in Game 5 of an NLDS game,” Padres starter Yu Darvish said ahead of his start against countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
“At a personal level, I’m really good friends with him as well.”
Said Padres manager Mike Shildt: “It’s a big deal. … What I love about this series, beyond the fact we’re going into a really cool Game 5, is the fact that Major League Baseball has done a fantastic job of making this an international game.
“I grew up, it was America’s game and hot dogs and apple pie and I guess I could put a plug-in for Chevrolet. But now it’s just an international game. The whole country of Japan is going to be watching and rightfully so. I think it’s fantastic that our game has those tentacles now.”
Dodgers pitchers for Game 5
Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers, but isn’t expected to pitch deep into the game. Manager Dave Roberts told reporters that “everyone is up” in the bullpen and confirmed that starter Jack Flaherty is available if needed in Game 5.
“I think for Yoshinobu, it’s just kind of from the outset,” Roberts said. “You know it’s not a 110-pitch exercise, 100-pitch exercise; it’s go out there and rip it from pitch one. I think with that mindset, I think that will bode well.
Padres pitchers for Game 5
Yu Darvish will start Friday for the Padres and manager Mike Shildt said pregame that the San Diego bullpen is ready to go.
‘We’ve got Yu going. Trust him completely,’ Shildt said. ‘We have our back-end guys ready to go. They’re ready. Even though they pitched yesterday or the day before they’re ready. They’re definitely rested. We’re excited to have them get after it and bring it home.
Padres lineup for Game 5
Luis Arraez (L) 1B
Fernando Tatis Jr. (R) RF
Jurickson Profar (S) LF
Manny Machado (R) 3B
Jackson Merrill (L) CF
Xander Bogaerts (R) SS
David Peralta (L) DH
Jake Cronenworth (L) 2B
Kyle Higashioka (R) C
Dodgers lineup
Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
Mookie Betts (R) RF
Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
Max Muncy (L) 3B
Will Smith (R) C
Enrique Hernández (R) CF
Gavin Lux (L) 2B
Tommy Edman (S) SS
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