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Dodgers still up 8-0
They are three outs away from forcing a Game 5.
Padres vs. Dodgers score: Mookie Betts, Los Angeles force decisive NLDS Game 5 vs. San Diego
The Dodgers have staved off elimination for one more day
By
Dayn Perry
•
1 min read
The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will play a winner-take-all Game 5 of their NLDS matchup. The Dodgers forced the decisive Game 5 with an 8-0 win at Petco Park on Wednesday (box score). San Diego would have advanced to the NLCS with a win, but they couldn't seal the deal. Game 5 will be played at Dodger Stadium on Friday.
The winner of Game 5 will advance to face the Mets in the NLCS. New York eliminated the NL East-winning Phillies in Game 4 on Thursday afternoon. Whichever team wins Game 5 will host the NLCS, so although the Mets don't know who they're playing yet, they know they're starting in California. The NLCS begins Sunday.
Here now are some takeaways from Game 4 between the Dodgers and Padres.
Betts is heating up
Rather than go with a bullpen game or veteran lefty Martín Pérez in Game 4, the Padres opted to start Dylan Cease on short rest after he threw 3 1/3 innings and 82 pitches in Game 1. It was Cease's first career start on short rest and it did not go well. He faced 10 batters and got only five outs, surrendering three runs on four hits and a walk. Three of the four hits came in two-strike counts.
The Dodgers opened the scoring when Mookie Betts took Cease deep in the first inning. It was Mookie's second straight game with a first inning homer. Really, it was his third if you count the homer Jurickson Profar robbed in Game 2.
I doubt the Padres were expecting a full 100-pitch start from Cease on short rest. I'm guessing they would have loved to get five innings from him but would have been happy with four, or even three and change. Instead, Cease couldn't get through the second inning, and San Diego plowed through six relievers to finish Game 4. Fortunately, Thursday is an off-day.
As for Betts, he snapped an 0-for-22 in the postseason that dating back to 2022 with his first inning homer in Game 2. He went 2 for 4 with the homer in the Game 2 loss and 2 for 5 with a homer in the Game 3 win. Just like that, Mookie went from being in a major postseason slump to being one of the Dodgers' hottest hitters. Not a moment too soon either.
LA's bullpen game gambit worked
The Dodgers have an entire rotation and then some on the injured list. They entered the postseason with three clear-cut starting pitchers -- Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler -- and maybe a fourth in rookie Landon Knack. With their season on the line in Game 4, Los Angeles opted for a straight bullpen game rather than putting it in Knack's hands.
And you know what? The bullpen game worked. Teams wouldn't run openers and bullpen games if they weren't effective. Eight Dodgers relievers shut the Padres out in Game 4. Here are the pitching lines:
| IP | H | R | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RHP Ryan Brasier | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
LHP Anthony Banda | 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
RHP Michael Kopech | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
LHP Alex Vesia | 1 2/3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
RHP Evan Phillips | 1 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
RHP Daniel Hudson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
RHP Blake Treinen | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
RHP Landon Knack | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Total | 9 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 |
After Betts opened the scoring, the Dodgers added two runs in the second and two more runs in the third to stretch their lead to 5-0. They officially turned it into a laugher with a three-run seventh inning. Gavin Lux had the exclamation point with a two-run homer.
Even after the offense broke the game open late, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts took no chances, and deployed his usual late-inning relievers to prevent any threat of a comeback. It wasn't until the ninth inning, when the Dodgers had an eight-run lead with three outs to go, that they brought in Knack to mop things up.
Game 5 is Friday
It'll likely be countrymen Yu Darvish and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound. That said, it's a win or go home game, and it will be all hands on deck for both teams. Don't be surprised if we see Michael King out of the bullpen on his between-starts throw day, or Jack Flaherty in relief on what would be normal rest after his Game 2 start. Freddie Freeman did not play in Game 4 as he nurses his sprained right ankle. He has the off-day Thursday to rest before trying to play in Game 5 on Friday.
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Dodgers play small ball and long ball
Tommy Edman squeeze bunts a run in here in the seventh. It's 6-0 Dodgers.
The call was overturned on replay and Edman was ruled out, but the run still scored. That's about as perfect a bunt as you'll see. I sure do love a good squeeze play.
Gavin Lux added a two-run homer against Wandy Peralta later in the seventh inning. This one's officially a boat race. It's 8-0 Dodgers in the seventh inning.
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Machado nearly hit one out, but it died and was caught on the warning track. Sounded great off the bat. Alas, no luck. It's still 5-0 Dodgers in the sixth.
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Padres get nothing
A strikeout and two fly balls end the threat. It's 5-0 Dodgers through five innings.
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Evan Phillips is warming.
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Padres rallying here in the fifth
Two on with no outs for No. 9 hitter Kyle Higashioka. The top of the lineup and the most dangerous bats loom. San Diego has to get something here to make this a game.
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Sometimes it's hard to forget that Merrill was a shortstop until this year. Really has taken to the outfield.
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Third base ump Mark Ripperger lends the Padres a hand here by preventing a ball from going down the line for an RBI double. Just bad luck here for the Dodgers:
Los Angeles is up 5-0 in the fourth.
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Nothing like a fullpen (I'm making it a thing) to make you appreciate Rob Manfred's finest contribution to the sport.
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5-0 through three innings
Three innings? Three innings. Feels like a pre-pitch clock game. The Dodgers are six innings away from forcing a Game 5.
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Dodgers take 5-0 lead
Will Smith with a long and loud two-run homer to dead center. It's looking like we'll have a Game 5 on Friday.
It is only the top of the third inning and the Dodgers are running a bullpen game. Still a lot of outs and lot of pitchers to go in this one.
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Banda escapes. Cronenworth pops out behind second base. Not-so-bold prediction: This game will not end 3-0.
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The Dads are rallying. Runners at first and second with two outs in the second.
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The first of what figures to be many pitching changes for the Dodgers. Here comes Anthony Banda to replace Ryan Brasier.
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Dodgers up 3-0
And Cease is done after 1 2/3 innings. The Padres have Martín Pérez available for length, but it's Bryan Hoeing first out of the bullpen. Shohei Ohtani sent Cease to the showers with an RBI single. Mookie Betts then singled in another run. The Dodgers are up 3-0 in the second inning.
San Diego's offense has shown it can put a lot of runs on the board in a hurry. Still a long way to go in Game 4.
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Bottom of the order builds a rally for the Dodgers. Gavin Lux walked, Enrique Hernández singled, and there are runners on the corners with one out for Chris Taylor. Shohei Ohtani is on deck. The Dodgers have three two-strike hits against Cease.
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1-2-3 inning for Ryan Brasier
It will probably be his only inning. Anthony Banda was warming up right from the first pitch. Brasier will probably get Machado to start the second, then Banda will come in for Merrill.
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That was Fernando Tatís' first strikeout of the playoffs
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Mookie goes deep
It's 1-0 Dodgers. Second straight game he's hit a first inning homer. Really the third straight if you count the homer Jurickson Profar robbed in Game 2.
Betts snapped his postseason 0 for 22 with the homer last night. It's hard to believe a hitter as good as him can struggle as much as he has the last few Octobers, but that's baseball.
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Dylan Cease has never made a start on short rest. Usually the fatigue shows up at the end of the outing with short rest starts. Everything looks good early on, then the guy hits a wall at, say, 75 pitches rather than 100.
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Game 4 is about to get underway
Dylan Cease on short vs. a bullpen game. Feel the excitement. A win sends the Padres to the NLCS and a matchup with the Mets. A loss and we get a win-or-go-home Game 5 on Friday.
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Freddie Freeman, who has been trying to play through a sprained ankle, was scratched just before first pitch. For a Dodgers team on the brink of elimination, that could be a catastrophe.
Freddie Freeman injury update: Dodgers first baseman scratched from NLDS Game 4 as ankle trouble continues
R.J. Anderson
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