After more than a week in which almost everything went right for the Dodgers, Game 5 of the National League Championship Series escaped them early on Friday when Jack Flaherty was the exact opposite of his Game 1 performance. The final result was a 12-6 loss to the Mets, which now sends the series back to Los Angeles.

Both halves of the first inning set the tone. Shohei Ohtani hit a single and Mookie Betts hit a double off a slipped glove from Stalining Marte in right field, and the Dodgers were in business with two runners in scoring position and one out. But unlike most other games in this series, LA couldn't get a win as three straight outs left runners stranded.

The first out was Teoscar Hernández's sharp grounder to stop Francisco Lindor. Ohtani retreated to third base instead of running home, which in hindsight was the Dodgers' best scoring chance of the frame. During his in-game interview from the dugout with Ken Rosenthal during the FS1 game broadcast at the start of the third inning, Dave Roberts was asked why Ohtani didn't score in the game.

“I don't know,” Roberts said. “I just think he had a brain seizure and was locked right there.”

In the bottom of the inning, Jack Flaherty struggled with an underpowered fastball that he couldn't control. He also allowed the first two batters to reach and run with a single. One comes later, Pete Alonso went down and got a low sliderand pushed it well past the wall in center for the Mets' highest score since the second inning of Game 2.

Flaherty allowed a double and a walk in a 32-pitch first inning, but no hits other than the three-run home run. But his five batters who reached base in Game 1 were one more than he had during his entire seven-inning start in Game 1.

After Flaherty hit a leadoff double in the second inning, he walked his first two batters in the third inning. At this point, nearly half (28) of Flaherty's (57) pitches were balls, he had recorded just six outs and had already allowed four hits and four walks, the latter matching his season high.

Dave Roberts said during his pregame media scrum at Citi Field: “We play with urgency tonight. I think you can see that when a team starts to get going, things can happen. So, yeah, we want to take advantage of our momentum and move forward by locking these guys up.”

With no one out in the third inning, with a well-rested bullpen, an upcoming day off on Saturday (plus the chance to earn more days off with a win), and just a two-run deficitThe urgency at this point might have suggested removing Flaherty.

Instead, Flaherty stayed in and Marte made him pay with a double that drew both walks. Anthony Banda warmed up in the bullpen, but the call never came. Flaherty got two more outs, but then allowed three consecutive two-out, run-scoring hits, including a triple by Lindor. Flaherty wore it on the mound in the third inning like this was an August 30 game and not Game 5 of the NLCS.

In total, Flaherty allowed eight runs in three innings, with Flaherty tying a Dodgers record for most runs allowed in a postseason appearance, along with Chad Billingsley (2008 NLCS Game 2) and Clayton Kershaw (2014 NLDS Game 1). ).

All of those extra runs from Flaherty in the five-run third inning loomed even larger later when the Dodgers offense scored in three straight innings midway through the game.

Andy Pages hit his first two postseason home runs in both the fourth and fifth innings, the latter a three-run blast. Mookie Betts added a solo shot in the sixth. But they never got closer than four runs after previously falling behind by seven runs.

Brent Honeywell was back on mop-up duty, and this time he wasn't as sharp, striking out three batters (setting a Dodgers postseason record) while also allowing four runs straight to Flaherty. But Honeywell did Pitched into a fifth inning, his longest outing since Sept. 23, 2023 with Triple-A Charlotte. He was finally ejected after 67 pitches and 4⅔ innings, with Anthony Banda striking out the final out in the eighth inning.

Honeywell soaking up all those outs gave the indebted poor in the Dodgers bullpen another day of rest. They will all be needed on Sunday.

Remarkable

The Dodgers are now 12-7 under Roberts in postseason games in which they had a chance to advance. They won seven straight before losing on Friday, the Dodgers' first loss in such a game since Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS.

The Dodgers' pitchers didn't hit anyone in Game 5, only the second time in their postseason history that this happened. The other was Game 2 of the 1974 NLCS in Pittsburgh, a 5-2 finish win about the pirates.

NLCS Game 5 details

Home runs: Andy Pages 2 (2), Mookie Betts (4); Pete Alonso (4)

WP – Ryne Stanek (1-0): 2⅓ IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 4 strikeouts

LP – Jack Flaherty (1-2): 3 IP, 8 hits, 8 runs, 4 walks

Next

After Friday's loss, the Dodgers have two more chances to close out the NLCS. The next chance comes on Sunday evening at Dodger Stadium (5:08 p.m., FS1). After the day off, it will be a bullpen game for Los Angeles with Sean Manaea starting for the Mets.