Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani help Dodgers force win-or-go-home NLDS 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.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.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 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 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 Manny 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-coun...