The New York Mets are officially on the ropes after another dominant performance from the Los Angeles Dodgers in their 10-2 Game 4 win on Thursday. With the Dodgers holding a 3-1 series lead, on the cusp of advancing to their fourth World Series in the past eight seasons, the Mets could be down to their final 27 outs if they can’t summon the kind of offensive showing that won them Game 2 7-3. In the first four games of the series, Los Angeles outscored New York 30-9.
In Game 5, the Dodgers have Jack Flaherty on the mound, with the righty looking to continue his postseason success (1-1, 2.92 ERA, 8 SO, 12.1 IP). Meanwhile, the Mets are pinning their hopes on lefty David Peterson, who has been solid for New York in short outings this October (1-0, 2.08 ERA, 5 SO, 8.2 IP).
How to watch Dodgers vs. Mets NLCS Game 5 (LAD leads 3-1)
Time: 5:08 p.m. ET
Location: Citi Field | Queens, NY
TV channel: FS1
Streaming: Fox Sports App, Fubo
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The third inning is over, with the Mets in full control after a five-run frame. The Dodgers offense scored more than eight runs just yesterday, but they might just be ready to try to take this series at home.
Mets 8, Dodgers 1
One more from Brandon Nimmo. Considering how the Dodgers have approached every postseason game, it’s impossible to not interpret them keeping Flaherty in as a white flag.
Mets 7, Dodgers 1
Francisco Lindor follows with a stand-up triple. The Mets are 7-for-15 with four walks against Jack Flaherty after going 2-for-22 against him in Game 1.
Mets 6, Dodgers 1
Francisco Alvarez adds another and it’s all Mets here at Citi Field. It looks like this series is going back to Los Angeles.
Anthony Banda was warming, but he’s now sat down in the bullpen. The Dodgers might just let Flaherty wear this rather than work their bullpen with two elimination games likely on tap in Los Angeles.
Mets 5, Dodgers 1
This is getting bad in a hurry for the Dodgers. Starling Marte shoots a grounder down the third base line and makes Flaherty pay for his two walks. Flaherty has faced 15 batters and allowed five hits, four walks and five runs.
Jack Flaherty has two swings and misses total through 14 batters. He allowed a leadoff walk to Pete Alonso in the third after going ahead 0-2, but Alonso held off two low curveballs and fouled off another well below the zone. Then Jesse Winker walks on four pitches.
Two on, none out for the Mets in third.
Simple enough inning for David Peterson in the top of the third, just one single from Tommy Edman.
He’s at 52 pitches through three innings, which is the most he has thrown in an appearance all postseason. He hasn’t thrown that many pitches since he was starting in the regular season.
Teoscar Hernández strikes out to open the third inning for the Dodgers.
Jack Flaherty works around the leadoff double to keep the second inning scoreless. In a must-win situation, the Dodgers might have already pulled him, but they might just want length from him at this point.
We’ll see what they do when he reaches the third time through the order, but his four-seamer velocity is down two ticks at 91.2 mph.
Lindor then comes a few feet short of the right-field fence. Ten batters in, Flaherty has allowed fly balls or line drives with exit velocities of 103.8 mph, 98.4 mph, 90.1 mph, 113.6 mph, 98.8 mph and 104.7 mph. That’s in addition to two walks.
And then Francisco Lindor comes a few degrees from clubbing a two-run homer down the right-field line. It flies just right of the foul pole, but this is some hard contact being allowed by Flaherty.
The Mets keep it going in the second inning with a double from Francisco Alvarez. It is at this point that you start to wonder how long Jack Flaherty will go today, considering how aggressive the Dodgers have been with their bullpen, but that unit has shouldered a big load so far this series
Mookie Betts popped out to end the top of the second inning. Lot of game left, but the Dodgers are now 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position against David Peterson.
Odd little plate appearance there for Ohtani. After watching the Dodgers’ first run come in on his first pitch, he took a timeout because he appeared to have something in his eye, waved away the L.A. trainer, flailed at a 3-1 slider out of the zone, then drew his fourth walk in two games.
Mets 3, Dodgers 1
David Peterson spikes a fastball in his first pitch to Ohtani, and that scores a run. With how the L.A. offense has been operating, easy runs such as that are a killer.
The Dodgers have two baserunners again in the second after Andy Pages drops a single into the right-center gap. With two outs, here comes Shohei Ohtani.
The inning is over, but it looks like Jack Flaherty took a step back with his command from Game 1. He has thrown only 17 of his 32 pitches for strikes, and the Mets are chasing his breaking balls less when they’re not hitting them into the stands. He allowed two hits total in Game 1 but three hits in the first inning tonight.
Alonso crushed a good pitch from Flaherty, too. That was a slider dropping out of the zone, but Alonso reached down and hit it 432 feet. Not a lot of hitters can do that, but multi-time Home Run Derby champs can.
