During Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Tuesday in Detroit, there was a power outage. In Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday, there was a power surge.
The Dodgers hadn’t hit a single home run through the first four games of the NLCS, but hit four in Game 5, including two by Adrian Gonzalez, leading L.A. to a 6-4 win. The series will now shift back to St. Louis for Game 6 on Friday with the Cardinals holding a 3-2 lead.
Gonzalez hit his first homer in the third inning off starter Joe Kelly, a solo blast to right measuring at 450 feet, breaking a 2-2 tie. Two at-bats later, in the eighth inning, Gonzalez added another solo shot down the right field line off of John Axford to make the score 6-2. He finished the game 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI.
Sandwiched in between the Gonzalez homers were two more from the Dodgers. Carl Crawford, who had three home runs in the NLDS, added one to right field in the fifth off of Kelly to give the Dodgers a 4-2 advantage. A.J. Ellis expanded that by a run in the seventh with a shot to left against former St. Louis closer Edward Mujica.
The four homers are a Dodgers record for a NLCS game, and it turns out, they’d need just about every one.
Leading 6-2 entering the ninth, the Cardinals eventually brought the winning run to the plate against Dodger closer Kenley Jansen. Matt Holliday, who went 3-for-4 in the game, turned a single to right into a double when Yasiel Puig showed a general disinterest in fielding the ball and getting it back into the infield. Matt Adams singled him home on one of his two hits on the day, getting St. Louis to within three.
Adams would come around to score four batters later when Pete Kozma singled him home for the fourth Cardinal run. With Jon Jay on second and Kozma, the potential tying run, on first, Adron Chambers struck out to end the game. Jansen allowed two runs on four hits in the ninth.
The Dodgers got on the board first, plating two in the second inning. Juan Uribe singled home Gonzalez, and L.A. starter Zack Greinke helped himself. He delieverd a RBI single to left field to score Puig from third.
St. Louis came right back to tie it in the top half of the third. With one out, Matt Carpenter singled, and Carlos Beltran followed that up with a triple off the center field wall that was just inches from being a home run. He would still score on a Holliday single, making the score 2-2.
Greinke did well to get through seven innings, especially after seeming to struggle early. He loaded the bases in the first with no outs, but got out of it unscathed thanks to a strikeout and double play. He settled down and finished with a line of 7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, and 4 K on 104 pitches. He earned the win for the Dodgers.
Kelly would take the loss for the Cardinals. He fought through five innings giving up runs in three of them. He allowed a total of seven hits and four runs on just 82 pitches.
The two teams will now regroup and play Game 6 on Friday in a rematch of Game 2 starters. Clayton Kershaw will get the nod for L.A. He took the loss on Saturday despite not giving up an earned run over six innings. He will be opposed by Michael Wacha, who got the win, keeping the Dodgers scoreless through 6.2. First pitch will be at 8:30.
