The Los Angeles Dodgers staved off elimination in Game 4 of the National League Division Series with a 6-5 victory on Tuesday, setting up a decisive Game 5 with the Washington Nationals on Thursday night.
The Dodgers took Game 1 of the series by a score of 4-3, but the Nationals picked up back-to-back wins after Game 2 was pushed back due to rain.
An RBI single by Chase Utley in the bottom of the eighth inning proved to be the difference in Game 4, but the Dodgers were forced to start ace Clayton Kershaw in that game as they fought to keep their season alive.
That leaves veteran Rich Hill (12-5, 2.12 ERA, 129 K) as the starter for Thursday night’s game, with rookie Julio Urias (5-2, 3.39 ERA, 84 K) waiting in the wings if he runs into any sort of trouble.
Those two and the rest of the Dodgers lineup will tasked with facing Nationals ace Max Scherzer (20-7, 2.96 ERA, 284 K), who did not look particularly sharp in Game 1 when he allowed five hits and four earned runs on a pair of home runs over six innings.
Who will come out on top in Game 5 of this exciting NLDS matchup?
Keep it right here for live updates on all of Thursday’s action and be sure follow me on Twitter (@JoelReuterBR) for further MLB analysis.
FINAL SCORE: Dodgers 4, Nationals 3
W: Julio Urias (1-0)
L: Marc Rzepczynski (0-1)
SV: Clayton Kershaw (1)
SCORING PLAYS
BOT 2: Danny Espinosa RBI single (0-1)
TOP 7: Joc Pederson solo HR (1-1)
TOP 7: Carlos Ruiz RBI single (2-1)
TOP 7: Justin Turner 2-RBI double (4-1)
BOT 7: Chris Heisey 2-run HR (4-3)
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