I didn't see Ohtani, but Yamamoto did it! Dodgers advance to NL Champions, New York M, come out...LAD 2-0 SD
Oct 12, 2024
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The Dodgers won 2-0 in Game 5 of the NL Division Series against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on the 12th (Korea time) with starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto's good pitching and two home runs by Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez.
The Dodgers, who were 1-2 until Game 3 and then balanced with an 8-0 complete victory on the road in Game 4, advanced to the NL Championship for the first time in three years since 2021 with a dramatic victory in the final game. The Dodgers, who have reached the 16th league championship, the most in NL history, will compete with the New York Mets for a World Series ticket with the best-of-seven series from the 14th. The Dodgers have Games 1, 2, 6, and 7 at home.
The first showdown between Japanese pitchers in the Major League postseason. Yamamoto shook off his slump with five runs in three innings in the first game with two hits, one walk, two strikeouts and no runs in five innings. Yamamoto, who joined the team last winter for a 12-year, $325 million pitcher's record and was jagged due to injuries in the regular season, recovered his trust by showing his true face in the decisive game.
San Diego starter Darvish Yu also threw three hits, one walk, four strikeouts and two runs in six ⅔ innings, but was beaten by two home runs and lost.
The Dodgers scored valuable winning points and extra points with Kieke's first solo home run in the second inning and Teoscar's wedge solo home run in the seventh inning. Shohei Ohtani was silent with no hits in four at-bats, but he moved to the Dodgers this year and enjoyed the excitement of advancing to the NLCS by playing his first autumn baseball.
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Darvish's start was off to a good start. In the bottom of the first inning, he struck out the leader Ohtani with an 87.4-mile low slider on the 6th full count, caught Mookie Betts on a ground ball to shortstop, threw a 94.8-mile sinker to Freddie Freeman and got a bullet-like hit to the right, but ended the inning by catching Teosca with a first baseman foul fly.
Yamamoto walked Xander Bogaerts in the top of the second inning after dealing with a deep fly to right field with a 96.6-mile fastball in the middle of the first pitch and Jurickson Profar grounded out to second base, but he finished the inning lightly with David Peralta grounded out to second base.
However, the atmosphere heated up as the Dodgers scored the first run in the bottom of the second inning. After leading man Max Muncy's walk, Will Smith hit a double play to third baseman, but Kike hit a home run to left. Kike pulled Darvish's 94.7-mile fastball into the body and connected it to a large arch with a launch angle of 36 degrees, a batting speed of 109.2 miles and a flying distance of 428 feet. Kike's first home run this fall.
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After that, the game continued into a tight pitching match between Yamamoto and Darvish until the middle.
Darvish made his first three-way exit of the day in the bottom of the third inning. After one out, Ohtani, who was at the plate for the second time, was caught with a fly ball to the third base with a cutter in the middle of the third pitch of 92.1 miles in 1B1S, and Betts was grounded out to the first base to end the inning. Yamamoto also increased his momentum by hitting all three batters in the top of the fourth inning.
As Darvish finished the bottom of the fourth inning with another three-batter error, Yamamoto also blocked the top of the fifth inning with three outs. Darvish's good pitching continued in the bottom of the fifth inning. Put Smith, Kike and Lux to bed with 13 balls.
The Dodgers started the bullpen in the top of the sixth inning with a 1-0 lead. As Evan Phillips completely overpowered five batters from the sixth to the seventh inning with two outs, left-hander Alex Besia, who took the mound, struck out Jackson Merrill with a swing and miss to finish the seventh inning.
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The Dodgers kept a two-run victory in the top of the eighth inning by blocking Michael Kopech from taking the mound after three innings, and closing Blake Trinen went out in the top of the ninth inning and overwhelmed the San Diego batters with no hits and no runs. The Dodgers' mound showed a strong sense of stability by throwing out 18 consecutive scoreless innings in Game 4 and 5.
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jhno@sportschosun.com
