Cody Bellinger pointed at the dugout and pounded his chest in triumph after delivering the biggest hit this season for the defending World Series champions.
Of course, it took until the ninth inning of the 24th and final meeting to finally separate the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
They could not have been any closer.
Photo: AFP
Bellinger on Thursday hit a tiebreaking single in the ninth inning and prized mid-season acquisition Max Scherzer came out of the bullpen for his first career save, sending the Dodgers past the Giants 2-1 in a thrilling winner-take-all Game 5 and into the National League Championship Series.
Bellinger’s line drive up the middle decided a scintillating division series between the top two teams in baseball with 213 regular-season wins between them, adding a new chapter to this storied, century-old rivalry.
“We poured everything we could into this series and it took everything we had to beat these guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
The dramatic finish came with a disputed call — with a runner aboard, Scherzer fanned Wilmer Flores on a check-swing for the final out.
Plate umpire Doug Eddings checked with first base umpire Gabe Morales, who ruled Flores swung, but on television replays, it certainly appeared he held up.
“The umpire said it was a swing, so it was a swing,” Bellinger said.
The Dodgers rushed out of their dugout to celebrate on the Giants’ home field. Fans began throwing beer cans and debris onto the diamond in disgust.
“Super tough. Obviously, you don’t want a game to end that way,” San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler said. “There’s no need to be angry about that. I just think it’s a disappointing way to end. There are other reasons we didn’t win today’s baseball game, so that was just the last call of the game.”
Morales told a pool reporter that check-swings are one of the most difficult calls umpires have.
“I don’t have the benefit of multiple camera angles when I’m watching it live,” Morales said. “When it happened live I thought he went, so that’s why I called it a swing.”
Mookie Betts had a post-season career-high four hits and will lead the Dodgers at the Atlanta Braves for Game 1 of the best-of-seven National League Championship Series today.
Roberts expects Scherzer to be ready to start, saying, “that’s the plan.”
Los Angeles came back from a 3-1 series deficit to beat the Braves in last year’s championship series, winning Game 7 4-3 on the way to their first championship since 1988.
“It’s going to be another good one. It’s not going to be easy,” Bellinger said. “We played each other a few times the last few years. So we kind of know what each other’s got, and really looking forward to it.”
Camilo Doval plunked Justin Turner with one out in the ninth and Gavin Lux singled before Bellinger came through with his most meaningful hit in a difficult season.
Before that single, he was five for 62 (.080) against the Giants this year.
“You really do want to be in that moment,” Bellinger said.
Scherzer, who lost his Game 3 start 1-0, moved from Washington on the July 30 trade deadline. He pitched a hitless ninth on two days’ rest to close out a best-of-five series certain to go down among the classics the franchises have played — right up there with the three-game tiebreakers won by the Giants to take pennants in 1951 and 1962.
“That was crazy. That’s nuts,” Scherzer said. “So to be in that moment, with everything on the line, with the way we’ve been playing this whole series, to get the ball in that situation, man, that was a rush.”
The 37-year-old right-hander is the oldest pitcher to save a winner-take-all game since saves became an official statistic in 1969.
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