by Cary Osborne
Midway through Game 5 of the National League Championship Series, the Dodgers made things uncomfortable for a Mets team that was seemingly on its way to a blowout victory to save its season.
Rookie Andy Pages had hit his second home run of the game in the fifth inning and Mookie Betts followed with a homer in the sixth inning.
It cut the Mets’ lead to four runs at the time.
But there came to be a point where the Dodgers had to go with an old adage: Sometimes you’ve got to lose the battle to win the war.
The Dodgers lost 12–6 to the Mets at Citi Field on Friday, missing an opportunity to win the National League title and go to the World Series.
After winning two of three in New York, they now head back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Sunday. They will go into it with an offense that has put up 36 runs in five games and a fresh bullpen.
Dodger reliever Brent Honeywell helped give them more ammunition for Game 6.
Honeywell pitched a Major League career-high 4 2/3 innings in relief after starter Jack Flaherty allowed eight runs in three innings.
That effort will give all of the Dodger high-leverage relievers at least two days off.
“I told them in the dugout, it’s my game until it’s not,” said Honeywell, who hadn’t pitched more than four innings in any game since Sept. 23, 2023 for the Triple-A Charlotte Knights. “I tried to keep us in the game. We had a shot to win the game I felt like. We made the turn a little bit. We battled our (butts) off. We knew they were going to fight tonight. That’s playoff baseball.”
He added: “Save the dogs” — referring to the arms in the Dodger bullpen.
When Roberts took the ball from Honeywell in the eighth inning, he told him: “Good job. You helped us in the long run.”
Honeywell allowed four runs, but entered the game with the Dodgers trailing 8–2.
Flaherty didn’t have it on Friday. After pitching seven scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ Game 1 victory, he didn’t have fastball command from the jump. And the Mets were on his slider.
Mets first baseman Pete Alonso struck first with a three-run homer in the first inning.
Flaherty allowed five more runs in the third inning.
But the Dodger offense, after a rough start, used the long ball to get back in the game.
Shohei Ohtani singled and Betts doubled to begin the first inning against Mets starter David Peterson. They were left on second and third base.
The Dodgers also left two stranded in the second inning and left the bases loaded in the fourth.
It wasn’t until Pages’ fifth inning homer that the Dodgers drove in a run with runners in scoring position.
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The closest the Dodgers got was down 10–6 after Betts’ second homer in as many days.
The Mets will likely go with Sean Manaea to start Game 6. He flummoxed the Dodgers in Game 2, tossing four shutout inning before allowing a home run to Max Muncy in the fifth inning.
Ohtani, Betts and Freddie Freeman were a combined 0-for-8 against Manaea — the left-hander with the acute arm slot. Pages was also in the lineup and struck out twice against Manaea.
However, Pages’ .357 batting average against lefties ranked sixth-best among Major League hitters (100 plate appearance minimum) in the regular season.
Manaea will be facing a Dodger offense that scored 33 runs in the four games not pitched by him.
“We’re still scoring runs,” said Freeman, who was 0-for-5 in his return to the lineup after missing Game 4 with the ankle injury. “Mookie Betts is Mookie Betts. Shohei is Shohei. Max is still looking great up there. Get some other guys like me and Teo (Hernández) going here, we’ve got a real good chance on Sunday.”
NLCS Game 5: The Dodgers head home after the Mets loosen their grip on an NL title was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.