{"id":1076,"date":"2016-10-14T04:11:19","date_gmt":"2016-10-14T08:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2017-06-20T09:51:41","modified_gmt":"2017-06-20T13:51:41","slug":"dodgers-beat-nationals-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2016\/10\/14\/dodgers-beat-nationals-five\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Beat Nationals in Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2016 NLDS<\/strong>\u00a0between the\u00a0Los Angeles Dodgers<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0Washington Nationals\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>took a back seat to the rest of league when it came to TV scheduling, having only one game scheduled in prime time. Lucky for baseball, that sole game was also a game five elimination game, and closed out an exciting series as the Dodgers beat the Nationals for their first trip to the NLCS since 2013.<\/p>\n

Dodgers Beat Nationals in Five<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Game One<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sending regular season ace, but riddled postseason pitcher Clayton Kershaw<\/a><\/strong>, to the mound, the Dodgers were able to squeeze out a key road victory against Nationals ace Max Scherzer<\/a><\/strong>. The win did not come easy for Kershaw, who was hoping to debunk previous postseason history, in which he routinely struggled. The expected high-profile pitching match became\u00a0rather offensive, with the Corey Seager<\/a><\/strong> and Justin Turner<\/a><\/strong> homering for Los Angeles, and the final score ending with Kershaw and the Dodgers on top 4-3.<\/p>\n

Game Two<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Game two was played a day later than scheduled due to a rain out. Midseason acquisition and near perfect game<\/a>-pitcher from Rich Hill<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0faced\u00a0Tanner Roark<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0Roark\u00a0<\/strong>allowed the Dodgers to strike early, but eventually combined with five other Washington pitchers to shut down the Los Angeles offense.<\/p>\n

Daniel<\/a> Murphy<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>who haunted the Dodgers as a\u00a0New York Met<\/strong> in 2015 NLDS, went 3-3 on the day with 2 RBI, and\u00a0Jose Lobaton<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0hit a three-run home that gave the\u00a0Nationals\u00a0the 5-2 victory heading into Monday’s game in\u00a0Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Game Three<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Without the benefit of\u00a0a day in between travel due to Saturday’s rain delay, the\u00a0Dodgers\u00a0and\u00a0Nationals played\u00a0game three of the series less than 24 hours after gem two ended across the country.<\/p>\n

Kenta Maeda<\/a><\/strong>, who was the Dodgers biggest signing in the offseason as far as starting pitching was concerned, got\u00a0the nod against Nationals lefty Gio Gonzalez<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0Maeda got\u00a0rocked early on, mirroring a performance he had in his last start before postseason against the\u00a0San Francisco Giants<\/strong>;\u00a0<\/strong>he gave\u00a0up four runs and was forced to exit after just three innings.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers, who were at the bottom of league against lefties all regular season, struggled against Gonzalez until the fifth, when they were able to push him out of the game with three earned runs. Unfortunate for the Dodgers, they\u00a0then faced\u00a0lefty, Sammy Solis<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Former\u00a0Dodger\u00a0<\/strong>Jayson Werth<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0hit a towering shot late put the game on ice, eventually giving the\u00a0Nationals the victory, 8-3, and series lead of 2-1.<\/p>\n

Game Four<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Facing elimination and having had their starters go only 12.1 innings, the Dodgers needed ace Kershaw to not only show up on short rest, but to hang on as long as he could.<\/p>\n

Aside from giving up two runs, Kershaw seemed have the game in control until the seventh. That was when he left\u00a0the game in the hand of the Dodgers bullpen after a fierce eight-pitch battle resulted in walking\u00a0Bryce<\/a> Harper<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/strong>The walk\u00a0left a bases loaded situation, with the Dodgers up 4-1, for Pedro Baez<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to take over.<\/p>\n

The first pitch Baez\u00a0threw in relief would hit Werth.\u00a0Luis Avilan<\/a> <\/strong>replaced Baez and gave up a two run single to\u00a0Murphy, allowing the Nationals to tie the score at 4-4 before\u00a0Joe Blanton<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>came\u00a0in and retired the side.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers didn’t\u00a0allow the tie to last.\u00a0Former grocery bagger<\/a>\u00a0Andrew Toles<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0was knocked in by\u00a0Chase Utley<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to give the Dodgers the go ahead run and push the series to D.C. for a game five.<\/p>\n

Game Five<\/strong><\/h3>\n

After\u00a0Kershaw was\u00a0used in an elimination situation in Game 4,\u00a0Dave Roberts<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>put\u00a0Hill back on the mound against Scherzer. With Julio Urias<\/a><\/strong> not having pitched yet in the series, Roberts would keep Hill on a short leash.<\/p>\n

Hill\u00a0gave up\u00a0RBI single in the second and was pulled in the third for\u00a0Blanton, who eventually handed the ball to Urias.<\/p>\n

Before Scherzer gave\u00a0up a home run in the seventh, the Nationals threatened a rally that ended\u00a0when\u00a0Werth\u00a0<\/strong>was given the green light to home on a two out single in the bottom of the sixth. Werth was consequently tagged out, and the\u00a0Dodgers kicked off a four-run seventh inning. The Nationals wouldn’t go down without a fight, however.<\/p>\n

After a two-run home run for Washington was hit by\u00a0Chris Heisey<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0off of Grant Dayton<\/a><\/strong>, Roberts\u00a0put closer Kenley Jansen<\/a><\/strong>, who had already pitched multiple four-out saves in the series, in to pitch the seventh.\u00a0Jansen went on to hold the Dodgers lead all the way into the ninth, until he walked Werth and Harper with one out.<\/p>\n

In an unexpected and unprecedented call, the Dodgers sent\u00a0Kershaw to the mound to face\u00a0Murphy, who popped\u00a0out. Kershaw struck out\u00a0Wilmer Difo<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0earning his first career save and the Dodgers a trip to the NLCS to take on the\u00a0Chicago Cubs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Series MVP: Clayton Kershaw<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Series Stats: 1-0, ERA: 5.84 , 1 SV<\/p>\n

The only thing Clayton Kershaw has been criticized for in his career has been his postseason performance. Not only did he earn the win in game one to get the Dodgers their first win in the series on the road, he was able to turn in a solid start on short rest in game four, and put the team on his back wrap up game five when the Dodgers were forced to use their closer prematurely for over two innings.<\/p>\n

The series\u00a0stat line above may look ugly by Kershaw’s regular season standards, but the reality of it is Kershaw came through when the Dodgers needed him to.<\/p>\n

Should the one game play-in Wild Card be expanded to a three game series?<\/a> in LastWordOnSports’s Hangs<\/a> on LockerDome<\/a><\/span>