Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO — With the rotation decimated, the lineup wounded and the season hanging in the stability, a gaggle of near 12 Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers walked towards Petco Park's center-field bullpen late Wednesday afternoon to aim what at that time appeared unbelievable — tame a vaunted San Diego Padres offense, quiet an effervescent opposing crowd and ship this National League Division Series again to L.A.
Their solely hope was to do what they at all times do — band collectively, observe the plan laid out for them and put together for all of it to unravel.
“Obviously stuff can change,” mentioned Daniel Hudson, probably the most senior member of that group. “I mean everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth, right?”
On this evening, in a must-win Game 4, it was the Dodgers who did the punching, deploying eight relievers to close out the Padres and seize an 8-0 win, establishing a winner-take-all Game 5 from Dodger Stadium on Friday.
Along the best way, Ryan Brasier, Anthony Banda, Michael Kopech, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Hudson, Blake Treinen and Landon Knack, pitching in that order, achieved historical past. Behind their arms, the Dodgers grew to become the second crew ever to throw a nine-inning shutout utilizing no less than eight pitchers.
Before Wednesday, no crew had ever thrown a postseason shutout in a recreation in which the starter recorded 4 or fewer outs. Then the Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers — one other crew exceedingly brief on beginning pitching — did it virtually concurrently.
“Proud,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned of his group. “I think that when you go through a regular season, a lot of things are sort of calculated and there's a lot of variables because you're playing for the longer view. But when you get into the postseason, it's a street fight. It's about people, players, and your desire has got to be more than your opponent. And for me to see our guys go through what they've been through and respond the way they have really makes me excited about Game 5.”
During a crew breakfast Wednesday morning, the Dodgers determined they must be with out Freddie Freeman, who continues to be bothered by a sprained proper ankle and soreness all through his physique — although they initially positioned him in the lineup, then scratched him lower than two hours earlier than first pitch.
“A little gamesmanship,” Freeman mentioned.
The prior evening, additionally they knew they'd be with out their common shortstop, Miguel Rojas, who has spent the higher a part of a month taking part in by means of a tear close to his groin.
And for a number of weeks now — months, even — the Dodgers figured they would not have sufficient beginning pitching to discipline a standard four-man rotation in the playoffs. Tyler Glasnow, Gavin Stone, Clayton Kershaw and Emmet Sheehan have all relented to season-ending accidents. When the Dodgers fell to the brink of elimination by shedding Game 3 on Tuesday evening, their workers selected a bullpen recreation in Game 4. The following morning, Brasier, a 37-year-old right-hander who was used thrice as an opener in September, was informed he would begin.
Brasier moved his ordinary pregame routine up by a few hours, then took the mound in the underside of the primary with a 1-0 lead courtesy of a Mookie Betts residence run and breezed by means of the highest of the Padres' lineup. The Dodgers' lead had elevated to 3-0 on RBI singles by Betts and Shohei Ohtani when Brasier started the underside of the second. He induced a groundout of Manny Machado, then gave option to one of many Dodgers' lefties, Banda, who a month in the past suffered a hairline fracture after banging his left fist against a paper-towel dispenser out of frustration.
After Banda labored round a two-on, one-out jam in the second, Dodgers catcher Will Smith hit a 432-foot two-run homer to middle discipline, the longest residence run of this postseason. Kopech then pitched a scoreless backside of the third, and Vesia adopted by recording 5 outs and permitting simply two baserunners. Phillips retired 4 batters in order thereafter, getting his crew by means of the sixth.
The Dodgers principally ran away with it the subsequent half-inning, getting a three-run homer by Gavin Lux. But Roberts used Hudson and Treinen for an inning anyway, then introduced in Knack, the one different starting-pitching possibility heading into Game 4, to complete the sport.
It marked the primary time the Padres had been shut out since July 19.
“The chemistry in this clubhouse, the guys that we have — there's a lot of grit,” Hudson mentioned. “There's no quit in this team. Obviously backs against the wall, we knew we were going to have to come in here and fight these guys to try to get it back to L.A.”
Now that the collection will return to Los Angeles, a Dodgers crew that's in some ways hanging on by a proverbial thread may all of a sudden have an edge. At residence in Game 5, the Dodgers could have their two finest beginning pitchers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty, lined as much as begin. Both are choices, Roberts mentioned, however so is one other bullpen recreation.
A bunch he knew he'd need to depend on closely in this postseason continues to instill confidence.
“They were all fantastic — attacking the zone, putting guys away, putting up zeroes,” Smith mentioned of the Dodgers' relievers. “We needed that tonight.”
