SAN DIEGO (AP) — Mookie Betts homered for the second straight night, Shohei Ohtani hit an RBI single and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Dylan Cease and the San Diego Padres 8-0 on Wednesday night to force a deciding Game 5 in their tense National League Division Series.
Will Smith and Gavin Lux each hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, who snapped a two-game losing streak and head home for the next matchup between the NL West rivals Friday night.
“We have a bunch of grinders, a bunch of fighters," Betts said after the Dodgers posted the largest shutout win in franchise post-season history. "We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
The Padres won 10-2 at Dodger Stadium in Game 2 on Sunday night, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.
The winner will have home-field advantage in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, who eliminated the Philadelphia Phillies in their NLDS.
“I’m proud. … Your desire’s got to be more than your opponent's," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "To see our guys go through what they’ve been through, and respond the way they have, it makes me excited about Game 5.”
The Dodgers got a superb effort by opener Ryan Brasier and seven fellow relievers in a bullpen game, holding the Padres to seven hits and extending their scoreless streak to 15 innings. Evan Phillips, who got the win, retired Jurickson Profar, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill on five pitches in the sixth.
“Overall the guys were efficient, understanding that they’re going to have to do up/downs, go a little bit longer potentially,” Roberts said. “So the efficiency of the strike zone was huge and it gives us options for Game 5.”
The Dodgers hushed the Petco Park-record crowd of 47,773 that had hoped to see San Diego eliminate LA in the NLDS for the second time in three seasons.
With all-star first baseman Freddie Freeman sidelined by a troublesome right ankle sprain, Betts and Ohtani — who starred in his first season with the Dodgers — needed to produce to keep LA's season alive. They did just that, with Betts driving in two runs on two hits and Ohtani bringing in one run and reaching base three times.
With the Dodgers up 5-0, the Japanese superstar was thrown out trying to score from second on Teoscar Hernández's single in the fourth that caromed off third baseman Machado's glove and hit umpire Mark Ripperger. Machado circled around the ump, grabbed the ball and fired it to catcher Kyle Higashioka, who tagged Ohtani for the third out.
The Padres' gamble to start Cease on short rest backfired. He got Ohtani to ground out opening the game before Betts homered on a full-count pitch. Cease put on two runners with one out in the second and after getting the second out, was chased by Ohtani's RBI single to right on his 38th pitch.
“I like how the ball was coming out of my hand and I didn’t feel like I shot myself in the foot too much, which I felt like I’ve been doing. I felt good out there,” Cease said. As for the early hook, “It depended on results and unfortunately the results weren’t here today.”
Betts hit an RBI single on Bryan Hoeing's first pitch for a 3-0 lead, quieting the towel-waving sellout crowd.
This time, Betts had no doubt about his home run. He drove a 3-2 pitch into the Padres' bullpen beyond the fence in left-centre and raised his right index finger as he rounded first while Ohtani raised his arms in celebration in the dugout.
On Tuesday night, Betts homered to left but thought Jurickson Profar had robbed him once again and turned toward the dugout before his teammates and even Padres starter Michael King motioned that it was a homer. Profar robbed Betts of a home run Sunday night at Dodger Stadium and trolled the fans. That game was stopped for 12 minutes after fans threw baseballs at Profar and trash onto the outfield.
Betts snapped an 0-for-22 playoff slump with his homer Tuesday night.
“I’m not trying to win the game for us. And we got plenty of guys that can win games for us,” Betts said. “I just want to do my part in the team. And that’s all I’ve been focused on.”
Ohtani hit a tying three-run homer off Cease in the slugger's highly anticipated playoff debut, a 7-5 victory on Saturday night. Ohtani became the first member of the 50-50 club this season with 54 homers and 59 stolen bases.
With Max Muncy aboard on a leadoff double in the third, Smith drove a pitch from Hoeing to the batter's eye in straightaway centre field for a 5-0 lead. The Dodgers added on in the seventh with Tommy Edman's sacrifice fly and Lux's two-run shot to right off Wandy Peralta.
The Dodgers kept slugger Fernando Tatis Jr. in the yard after he hit three homers in the first three games, including two on Sunday night, and four overall this postseason. Brasier struck out Tatis in the first, the star's first whiff in six playoff games.
“They executed as a group tonight, credit to them,” Tatis said. “We were rolling as an offence. But we had a couple of innings that didn’t go in our favour. We need to get a better approach at the plate. ... just better at-bats as a group."
UP NEXT
Padres RHP Yu Darvish is scheduled to start Game 5. The Dodgers haven't named a starter.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Bernie Wilson, The Associated Press
