Bottom of the fourth inning the Los Angeles Dodgers cracks a bottom of the fourth inning home run against the San Francisco Giants on Tue Oct 12, 2021 at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles (AP News photo)
By Jeremy Kahn
If you thought that the reigning World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers would go away quietly into the off-season, you were wrong.
Anthony DeSclafani lasted just 1.1 innings, and Mookie Betts hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning and the Dodgers forced a decisive Game Five in the National League Division with a 7-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium.
Gabe Kapler saw enough from his starter just 28 pitches and the Dodgers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead against the Giants, who were trying to close out the series and move on to the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, who closed out the Milwaukee Brewers after Freddie Freeman hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, helping the Braves to a 5-4 victory at Truist Park in Atlanta.
DeSclafani gave up a run-scoring double that scored Corey Seager in the bottom of the first inning, and then Chris Taylor just missed a home run in the bottom of the second inning, as his sacrifice fly was caught by LaMonte Wade, Jr., that scored Gavin Lux, who just missed tying up the game in the bottom of the ninth inning on a fly ball that was caught by Steven Duggar on the warning track that gave the Giants a 1-0 victory and a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers in the NLDS.
In that 1.2 innings of work, DeSclafani allowed two runs on five hits, did not allow a walk and struck out two in his post season debut for the Giants.
Walker Buehler, who lost Game 1 to the Giants on Friday night at Oracle Park went just 4.1 innings, allowing one run on four hits, walked two and struck out four and did not fare in the decision.
Betts hit a two-run home run off of Jarlin Garcia, just after Buehler reached on a fielding error by Garcia.
The Giants scored their lone run in the top of the fifth inning, when Darin Ruf grounded out to Trea Turner that allowed Game Four hero Evan Longoria to score easily from third base.
With a chance to tie up the game, Brandon Crawford, who came up with one of the biggest defensive play of the win on Monday night grounded out to Justin Turner to end the inning and the threat for the Giants.
Joe Kelly, who came on to replace Buehler in the top of the fifth inning, picked up the win for the Dodgers, as he went 0.2 innings, allowing one hit and the rest zeros before turning the game over to Brusdar Graterol, Anthony Vesia, Blake Treinen and then Phil Bickford and the Dodgers forced the decisive Game Five on Thursday night at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
Betts drove in his second run of the night in the bottom of the fifth inning, as he hit a sacrifice fly off of Tyler Rogers that scored Cody Bellinger from third base with the bases loaded.
It was in that fifth inning, that the Dodgers basically put the game away, as Lux walked, then went to third on a Bellinger hit-and-run single thru the middle of the infield. Chris Taylor, who sent the Dodgers into the Division Series against the Giants after he hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning off of Anthony Reyes to give the Dodgers a dramatic 3-1 victory on Wednesday night hit into a force play that saw Leone throw to Longoria, who threw to Buster Posey, who tagged out Lux for the first out for the first out of the inning.
After Steven Souza walked to load the bases, Betts hit a sacrifice fly to Kris Bryant in left field to score Bellinger. Rogers then got Seager to fly out to Mike Yastrzemski to end the inning.
The Giants cut the lead down to 5-2 in the top of the eighth inning, when Crawford led off the inning with a double to the base of the right field wall off of Treinen. Posey then sent to his longtime teammate to third, when he grounded out to Trea Turner, and then Bryant grounded out to Justin Turner to score Crawford and down to his last position player, Kapler called on Curt Casali, who struck out to end the inning.
Will Smith put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth inning, when he hit a two-run home run off of Jake McGee with one out in the inning. Seager led off the inning with a single, then after a fly out by Trea Turner for the first out of the inning, Smith launched the two-run home run into the bleachers.
NOTES: When the Giants took Game Three by the final score of 1-0 on Monday night, it was the 15th time in postseason history that a game ended with a score of 1-0, with the lone run being scored on a solo home run. Greg Bird of the New York Yankees was last player to accomplish the feat in the 2017 American League Division Series against the Cleveland Indians.
This was the second time in Giants that this occurred, and the first time since October 12, 1923, when Casey Stengel hit a solo home run to give the Giants a 1-0 win over the New York Yankees in the World Series.
With the shutout on Monday night, it was the 27th shutout in Giants postseason history, the second most in MLB history, trailing the Yankees, who have 32 shutouts in postseason history. Of those 27 shutouts, Posey has caught 14 of the 27 shutouts, the most by a catcher in MLB postseason history.
UP NEXT: Logan Webb will take the mound on Thursday night for the Giants, as they look for their first appearance in the National League Championship Series since 2014, while the Dodgers will send Julio Urias to the mound, as they look for their second consecutive appearance in the NLCS and their fifth appearance in six years.
