Dodgers avoid elimination with 8-0 victory, series tied at two

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, right, is tagged out at home plate by San Diego Padres catcher Kyle Higashioka after a single by Teoscar Hernández during the fourth inning in Game 4 of a baseball NL Division Series Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in San Diego.(AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers and San Diego Padres will conduct workouts closed to the public at Dodger Stadium Thursday to prepare for Friday’s decisive fifth game of their National League Division Series.

The Dodgers avoided losing in a division series for the third consecutive season with an 8-0 victory at Petco Park Wednesday in front of a stadium-record crowd announced at 47,773 to tie the series at two games apiece.

With Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Gavin Stone and Dustin May unable to pitch because of injuries, the Dodgers resorted to a bullpen game.

Eight pitchers limited the Padres to seven hits. This was the eighth time in MLB postseason history a team has used at least eight pitchers to shut out the opposing team.

Evan Phillips, the fifth pitcher, was credited with the victory after retiring all five batters he faced in the fifth and sixth innings.

San Diego was 0-for-9.with runners in scoring position.

“Clearly they did a nice job,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “So we didn’t get the proverbial big hit and string anything really together.”

Pitching on three days rest for the first time in his six-year major league career, Padres ace Dylan Cease allowed three runs and four hits in 1 2/3 innings and was charged with the loss.

“I thought his stuff was coming out really good,” said. “He’s throwing 100. Slider was good. They just put good swings on him.”

Mookie Betts, the game’s second batter, hit a full-count four-seam fastball from Cease 403 feet over the center field fence for a home run.

The Dodgers added two runs in the second. Gavin Lux walked with one out. Kiké Hernández followed with a single that advanced Lux to third. Cease struck out Chris Taylor, the ninth hitter in the Dodgers’ lineup, for the second out, but Ohtani singled in Lux, prompting Shildt to replace Cease with Bryan Hoeing.

“He’s at 38 pitches,” Shildt said. “He’s got one out in the second.

Just felt like it was the appropriate time. We have some guys we trust in our bullpen and that was the equation.”

Betts, the first batter Hoeing faced, hit his first pitch into right field for a single, driving in Hernández.

Max Muncy doubled leading off the third. The next batter, Will Smith, homered off Hoeing, increasing the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0.

In the eighth, Muncy was hit by a pitch from Alek Jacob, the fifth of seven Padre pitchers, with one out, moved to third when Xander Bogaerts, the Padres’ shortstop, made an error on a ground ball hit by Smith, and scored on a squeeze bunt by Tommy Edman.

Wandy Peralta relieved Jacob and allowed a home run to the first batter he faced, Lux.

Dodger first baseman Freddie Freeman did not play because of what manager Dave Roberts called “overall body soreness.”

“I just don’t feel good about putting a player in there when he’s not at his best because of the name on the back of his jersey,” Roberts said.

Yu Darvish will pitch for the Padres Friday, Shildt said. Darvish limited the Dodgers to one run and three hits over seven innings in the Padres’ 10-2 victory in Game 2 Sunday.

“He’s one of the better pitchers of this generation, so … that’s why the confidence is high for me,” Shildt said.

The Dodgers have not announced their Game 5 starter.

“We’ve got some options,” Roberts said. “I think that we could run the same playbook back and run a bullpen game. We can start Jack (Flaherty). We could start Yoshinobu (Yamamoto).” (CNS)