After more than a week when just about everything went the Dodgers’ way, Game 5 of the National League Championship Series got away from them early on Friday, when Jack Flaherty was the polar opposite of his performance in Game 1. The end result was a 12-6 loss to the Mets that now sends the series back to Los Angeles.
Both halves of the first inning set the tone. Shohei Ohtani singled and Mookie Betts clanged a double off a sliding Staling Marte’s glove in right field, and the Dodgers were in business with two runners in scoring position and one out. But unlike most of this series, LA couldn’t cash in, as three straight outs stranded the runners.
The first out was Teoscar Hernández’s sharp grounder to shortstop Francisco Lindor. Ohtani was retreating to third base rather than running home, in what 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 in the top of the third inning, Dave Roberts was asked about why Ohtani didn’t score on the play…