Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers blank Padres, advance to NLCS

Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched five shutout innings, Enrique Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez hit home runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 victory over the visiting San Diego Padres on Friday.

By claiming Game 5 of the best-of-five NL Division Series, the Dodgers will play host to Game 1 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets on Sunday.

Yamamoto (1-0), who was not named the Dodgers' official starter until late Thursday, gave up two hits and one walk. He struck out two while throwing 63 pitches.

Los Angeles relievers Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen combined to set down every batter over the final four innings. Treinen pitched the ninth and earned his second save of the postseason.

Los Angeles exacted revenge on its NL West rival that won the season series 8-5 and came out on top in the 2022 NLDS between the same teams. The Dodgers advanced to their sixth NLCS in the past nine seasons and a league-best 16th NLCS in franchise history.

Padres right-hander Yu Darvish (1-1) gave up two runs on three hits over 6 2/3 innings after winning Game 2 of the series, also at Los Angeles. It was the first-ever playoff matchup between pitchers born in Japan.

The Padres had a 2-1 series lead but did not score a run over the last 24 innings.

Enrique Hernandez gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the second inning with a towering home run deep into the left field seats. He hit 12 home runs in 126 regular-season games this year, and he now has 14 home runs in 75 career playoff games.

Yamamoto made just four starts at the end of the regular season after returning from a three-month absence caused by a shoulder injury. With a fastball that reached 98.2 mph, after he averaged 95.5 in the regular season, Yamamoto gave up just a pair of singles, although Manny Machado hit a pair of fly balls against him to the right field warning track.

Teoscar Hernandez made it 2-0 in the seventh inning with a home run to left off Darvish, his second of the series.

Vesia struck out the lone batter he faced, Jackson Merrill, to end the top of the seventh and was set to pitch the eighth but departed with an undisclosed injury without facing a batter. Kopech needed just nine pitches to get through a perfect eighth.

--Doug Padilla, Field Level Media