Dodgers pitching dominant in NLDS win over the Giants
Buehler, Urías, Scherzer, Jansen, and Treinen pitched 33 of the 44 innings for LA in the series
The National League Division Series between the Dodgers and Giants was every bit as good as promised, with five games of incredibly tense action between MLB’s two best teams. So of course the winner-take-all Game 5 wasn’t decided until the final inning.
Cody Bellinger, in an injury-plagued worst season of his career, has come alive in the postseason, culminating in an RBI single off Giants closer Camilo Doval in the ninth, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 win over the Giants on Thursday night at Oracle Park in San Francisco, punching a ticket for Los Angeles to the NLCS.
The winning rally started with Doval hitting Justin Turner with a pitch with one out. Gavin Lux, making his second straight start in centerfield, singled to right to put two on for Bellinger, who had two hits in 48 at-bats against the Giants during the regular season.
Bellinger in the NLDS had four hits in 15 at-bats, driving in key runs in road wins in Game 2 and Game 5.
As much attention was paid to the Dodgers’ strategy to start the game, using both Corey Knebel and Brusdar Graterol before Julio Urías, LA’s pitching was dominant in the series, allowing only 10 runs in five games. But it was how they closed Game 5 that was even more interesting.
After getting four innings out of Urías, Dave Roberts turned to Blake Treinen for the seventh and Kenley Jansen for the eighth, but instead of double switching to get either an extra frame, he left the ninth inning for Max Scherzer, who worked around a Justin Turner error to record the first save of his career.
The final out was a strikeout of Wilmer Flores, ruled out on a check swing that can only be described as a Ruf call.
Up next
Last year’s National League Championship Series was so nice, they are playing it twice. The Dodgers will face the Braves for a second straight postseason, and the third October in the last four years.
The NLCS starts on Saturday in Atlanta (5:07 p.m. PT, TBS) because as a wild card team the Dodgers cannot have home-field advantage before the World Series.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants Highlights October 14, 2021 – MLB Highlights | MLB 2021
Dodgers Outlast Giants in Thrilling Game 5, Advance to Play Braves
Relive in real time the epic conclusion of the NLDS between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
In a year where the Giants were always one step ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West, Los Angeles finally got the best of San Francisco.
Cody Bellinger laced a one-out RBI single to right field in the ninth inning to give the defending champions the lead. And then Max Scherzer, on two days rest, stalked and snarled his way from the bullpen and earned the first save of his professional baseball career as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 2–1.
Los Angeles is moving on to face the Braves at Truist Park on Saturday in the National League Championship Series—a rematch of last year’s series, which the Dodgers won in seven games.
The ending of Game 5 of the NLDS was controversial, as replays showed that Wilmer Flores, whose strike out ended the game, had actually checked his swing but was punched out by the first base umpire.
Matt Martell (8:55): Howdy, partner.
Emma Baccellieri (8:55): Hello!
MM (8:56): Ready to get this thing going?
EB: (8:56): Sure am. What are your thoughts on the Dodgers’ decision to open the game with Corey Knebel instead of Julio Urías?
MM (8:57): Well, first off, I love the gamesmanship. I like that we finally got a weird wrinkle between two teams that are facing each other for the 24th time this year.
How Dave Roberts’ bold pitching strategy led to a second straight NLCS berth for Dodgers
Roberts told reporters that reliever Corey Knebel would open the game. It’s something the Dodgers and Knebel did multiple times in the regular season. Julio Urias would follow later.
Part of the reason for using an opener was strategic and based on handedness. Giants manager Gabe Kapler countered Roberts’ decision by adding a left-handed hitter to his Game 5 lineup (Tommy LaStella) and moving another lefty swinger (Brandon Crawford) up to fourth in the order, making things potentially tougher for the right-handed Knebel.
Knebel opened four times in the regular season. In 5 2/3 innings, he allowed one run on six hits and struck out four. So there was a sample size to show it could work. And yet, Roberts was criticized heavily on Twitter by fans and media alike who questioned whether the decision was “too cute” or a product of overthinking.
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Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn, which later became a borough of New York City, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and assumed several different monikers thereafter before finally settling on the name Dodgers in 1932.
From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, the Dodgers developed a fierce cross-town rivalry with the New York Yankees as the two clubs faced each other in the World Series seven times, with the Dodgers losing the first five matchups before defeating them to win the franchise’s first title in 1955. It was also during this period that the Dodgers made history by breaking the baseball color line in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to ever play in the Major Leagues.
Another major milestone was reached in 1956 when Don Newcombe became the first player ever to win both the Cy Young Award and the NL MVP in the same season.
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco.
The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New York Gothams, and renamed three years later the New York Giants, the team eventually moved to San Francisco in 1958.
National League Division Series
In Major League Baseball, the National League Division Series (NLDS) determines which two teams from the National League will advance to the National League Championship Series.
The Division Series consists of two best-of-five series, featuring the three division winners and the winner of the wild-card play-off.