Murphy, Mets Eliminate Dodgers To Advance To NLCS
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The Dodgers hosted the Mets in Game 5 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium for the right to move on to the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs.
The Dodgers sent Zack Greinke to the mound to try to stymie the Mets' offense and notch his second victory of the series.
After Curtis Granderson led off the game with an infield single, Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy hit a double to left field to drive in the first run of the game for the Mets.
Greinke would escape the jam in the first inning, surrendering just one run.
The Dodgers would answer back in the bottom half of the first inning, compiling four consecutive singles by Corey Seager, Adrian Gonzalez, Justin Turner and Andre Ethier.
Turner and Ethier drove in runs in the first inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
Jacob deGrom struggled early, throwing 76 pitches and allowing five hits in the first four innings.
The Mets tied the game at 2 thanks to a Travis d'Arnaud sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.
Zack Greinke had the strikeout pitch working, totalling seven strikeouts in the first five innings.
The game would remain scoreless until the top of the sixth inning, when Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy hit his third home run of the series to put the Mets up 3-2.
Mets starter Jacob deGrom was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh inning.
DeGrom got through six innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs and racking up seven strikeouts.
With two outs and two men on base in the sixth, Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly removed Greinke in favor of left-hander Luis Avilan.
Game 2 starter Noah Syndergaard pitched a scoreless seventh inning, before Mets manager Terry Collins brought in his closer, Jeurys Familia, to try for the six-out save.
Familia retired the first three batters he faced in the eighth inning, before coming back into the game to pitch the ninth.
Chase Utley pinch-hit for Joc Pederson in the ninth inning, marking his first action since the controversial slide with Ruben Tejada in Game 2.
Utley would fly out to right field for the first out of the inning.
Familia would go on to close the game as the Mets eliminated the Dodgers and advance to play the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS.
