Dodgers strike back, rout Padres to force Game 5

SAN DIEGO — 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 Wednesday night to force a deciding Game 5 in their tense NL Division Series.

Will Smith and Gavin Lux each hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, who snapped a two-game losing streak and now return home for the next matchup between the NL West rivals on Friday night. (8:08 p.m. ET on FOX). 

The winner of Game 5 will have home-field advantage in the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets, who eliminated the Phillies in their NLDS.

The Padres won 10-2 at Dodger Stadium in Game 2 on Sunday night, when tempers flared on the field and in the stands.

[Related: The moments that helped ignite the Dodgers-Padres rivalry] 

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.

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 L.A.’s season alive. They did just that, with Betts driving in two runs on two hits and Ohtani bringing in one run and reaching 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 was chased by Ohtani’s RBI single to right on his 38th pitch.

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-center 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 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 on 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.

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 center 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.

Up next

The Padres are expected to start RHP Yu Darvish in Game 5. The Dodgers haven’t named a starter.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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