Dodgers prepare for game against Mets, seek to advance to World Series

Burbank-born Jack Flaherty will try to pitch the Dodgers into the World Series for the first time since 2020 when they face the New York Mets Friday at Citi Field in New York in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers took a three games to one lead Thursday with a 10-2 victory as Mookie Betts homered and drove in a postseason-career high four runs and Shohei Ohtani homered and scored four times.

Teams taking 3-1 leads in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win 79 of 93 times, 84.9%, according to Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician of Major League Baseball.

Flaherty (1-1) was the winning pitcher in Game 1 of the series Sunday, limiting the Mets to two hits, striking out six and walking two.

The former Harvard-Westlake School standout had a 6-2 regular-season record with a 3.58 ERA after being acquired by the Dodgers on July 30 from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for minor leaguers Thayron Liranzo and Trey Sweeney. The Dodgers were 7-3 in his 10 regular-season starts and are 1-1 in his two postseason starts.

Mets left-hander David Peterson will make his first 2024 postseason start after four relief appearances, including allowing three runs, two earned, in 2 1/3 innings in Game 1.

"Peterson is fully rested ... so I'm anticipating him making a regular start," New York manager Carlos Mendoza said.

Peterson was 10-3 with a 2.90 ERA in the regular season. The Mets were 15-6 in his 21 starts.

First baseman Freddie Freeman is in the Dodger lineup after not playing Thursday because of a sprained right ankle sustained on Sept. 26.

ESPN's matchup predictor gives the Dodgers a 51.4% chance of winning, New York a 48.6% chance.

The 2:08 p.m. game will be televised by FS1.

On Thursday, Betts doubled in two runs in the fourth inning and hit a two-run homer in the sixth as part of a 4-for-6 game in which he scored three times.

Leading off the game, Ohtani hit Jose Quintana's second pitch 422 feet over the right-center field fence for his third home run of the postseason and his first hit with the bases empty in the postseason, after going hitless in his first in 22 at-bats in the postseason. He walked and scored in each of his next three plate appearances.

Tommy Edman doubled in a run in the third and two in the eighth. Edman has replaced Miguel Rojas as the Dodgers' starting shortstop. Rojas is not on the roster for the series due to a tear in his left adductor muscle suffered about a month ago.

Max Muncy singled and walked three times in his first four plate appearances to extend his streak of reaching base on 12 consecutive plate appearances, setting the record for a single postseason, erasing the previous record of 10 set by Billy Hatcher in 1990 and matched by Hall of Famer David Ortiz in 2007.

Muncy tied the all-time record set by Reggie Jackson in the 1977 and 1978 postseasons.

The Dodgers drew nine walks, becoming the first team in postseason history to draw at least seven walks in four consecutive games.

Dodger starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and three relievers shut out New York over the final 6 1/3 innings. Yamamoto allowed two runs and four hits over 4 1/3 innings, striking out eight and walking one.

Because Yamamoto did not pitch the required five innings, Evan Phillips (2-0), the second Dodger pitcher, was credited with the victory, pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits, striking out two batters and walking one.

Quintana (0-1) was charged with the loss, allowing five runs and five hits in 3 1/3 innings, striking out two and walking four.

The Dodgers out-hit the Mets, 12-10. The Dodgers were 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position, New York 0-for-10.

Every player in the Dodgers' starting lineup reached base except for Andy Pages.

New York tied the score 1-1 in the bottom of the first when its second batter, Mark Vientos, hit an 0-1 four-seam fastball from Yamamoto 397 feet over the center field fence for his fourth home run of the postseason.

The Mets combined back-to-back singles from Francisco Alvarez and Francisco Lindor, a one-out walk to Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo grounding into a force out for a run in the third.