Yoshinobu Yamamoto has outduelled Yu Darvish in a historic MLB playoff matchup of Japanese-born starters as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 to advance to the National League Championship Series.
The Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez in Friday night’s home game as they clinched the NL Division Series 3-2.
Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the Dodgers before being pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated rivals who were meeting in an NL Division Series for the third time in five years.
The Dodgers will play Pete Alonso and the New York Mets in the best-of-seven NLCS starting Sunday night in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers won a decisive Game 5 at home for the first time since taking a 1981 NL Division Series against Houston after a season split into halves following a players’ strike.
Boasting the majors’ best regular-season record of 98-64, they successfully avoided a third straight NLDS elimination.
The Padres’ big hitters went bust with their season on the line. Three-time batting champion Luis Arraez, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado were one for 14 in Game 5 as the last 19 San Diego batters were retired.
San Diego went scoreless for the final 24 innings of the series, dropping the last two games after taking a 2-1 lead back home.
Yamamoto and Darvish were the first Japanese-born starting pitchers to square off in major league playoff history.
The 26-year-old Yamamoto was the fifth rookie to start a winner-take-all game in Dodgers history.
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