The Dodgers show no panic and dominate the Padres to take a decisive NLDS Game 5

Hours before Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Petco Park on Wednesday night, there was a quiet but palpable belief around the Dodgers dugout, one that belied the seemingly dire conditions in which they found themselves.

Sure enough, the team faced elimination in the NLDS for the third straight time, losing two games to one to the San Diego Padres.

And no, they weren't at full strength, playing without injured veterans Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas on the same day they picked up a bullpen game from their banged-up pitching staff.

Yet, in stark contrast to the past few Octobers, they showed no panic. They felt no fear.

“I think it was a lot lighter than people thought,” right fielder Mookie Betts said. “We were not excited. We were having fun, laughing, joking. We knew what we were going to do. We knew we had to face the challenge. But we all enjoyed it … we knew we'd be OK.”

Well, really.

By the end of the night, that pregame optimism had blossomed into a postgame celebration, with the Dodgers saving their season in an 8-0 blowout victory.

“We just played our game,” utilityman Kike Hernandez said. “We did what we could.”

Unlike last year, when they suffered a season-ending loss by Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers, the Dodgers' lineup looked locked in from the jump, scoring three times in the first two innings against Padres starter Dylan Seaz, who was pitching first. During his career on three days' rest, he led the bullpen to a 5-0 lead before adding two more in the third inning.

Unlike in 2022, when the Dodgers blew a late lead in a Game 4 elimination at this same stadium, their relievers called on eight different pitchers in 2020 for the club's first postseason shutout since the wild-card round. , and first season road win since Game 5 of the 2021 NLDS.

“Our bullpen is special,” left-hander Alex Vecia said. “We have eight, nine, 10 guys who can come in very high-leverage situations, and I think it shows.”

Now, this Dodgers team will live to see at least two more days, tying the best-of-five series at two games to force a decisive fifth game at Chavez Ravine.

“When you get into the postseason, it's a road fight,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Your desire has to be greater than your opponent's. And seeing what our guys went through and seeing the way they responded really got me excited about Game 5. Makes it exciting.”

The Padres' Game 3 win on Tuesday started the Dodgers' path to a Game 4 victory. In his postgame press conference that night, San Diego manager Mike Shields announced that Seaz, who had started Game 1 of the series, would get the ball in Game 4 on three days' rest.

That, with some Dodgers, was good news. Not only because they tagged the season with five runs in four innings in their Game 1 win, but also because, for the first time in three postseasons, they'll get to see the same starting pitcher twice in a series. .

“Anytime someone comes back on short rest, you never know what you're going to get,” said Max Munsey, who moved to first base to fill in for Freeman. “You have to find a way to control the zone and attack the pitches that are over the plate.”

The Dodgers did just that from the first inning.

Similar to Game 3, Betts connected with a full-count fastball up the middle of the zone to set the tone with a first-inning homer.

And instead of squandering early momentum like they did in Tuesday's loss, the Dodgers relentlessly added until the score got out of hand.

Quality second-inning at-bats by Gavin Lux (a walk) and Kike Hernandez (a two-strike single) led to Shohei Ohtani (who had only one in his last 12 at that point) and Betts (who was officially out of his postseason slump. ).

With the game tied in the third, the Dodgers added two more on Will Smith's home run, a blast to straight center that snapped his streak of nine hitless at-bats to start the series.

“We just kept adding,” Hernandez said. “We slogged, we rallied, we went from station to station … we played a great game overall.”

That assessment also applies to a lockdown bullpen, which hardly needed breathing room the way it silenced the Padres' bats.

Dodgers reliever Ryan Brasier delivers during the first inning of an 8-0 win over the Padres in Game 4 of the NLDS at Petco Park on Wednesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Ryan Bresciare started the game with four straight outs. Anthony Banda took over from there, stranding a pair of baserunners in the second.

Roberts got aggressive in the third, closing in on Michael Kopech with a five-run lead.

Vecia struck out the most of anyone, stranding two more runners in the fifth while pitching 1⅔ innings.

“We all knew where we were going,” Vecia said. “The offense helped us big time, getting runs early, then keeping the pressure on them.”

Mixing and matching culminated with a stress-free appearance by Evan Phillips, Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen and Landon Knack.

In all, Dodgers pitchers Luis Arez, Jurickson Proffer and Fernando Tatis Jr. held just one hit each, while Manny Machado went 0-0 with two strikeouts.

“They were all great,” Smith said after catching nine innings. “Attacking the zone, putting guys away, making nine zeroes. We needed that tonight.”

Wednesday was not without some adversity for the Dodgers.

Rojas, as expected, did not play due to his adductor injury. Freeman was initially in the starting lineup, but less than two hours before the game, some “gamesmanship” was scratched, he said, while he nursed his sprained right ankle.

“[Playing on] Back-to-back days, it's a little tough,” said Freeman, who was ejected from Tuesday's game for the second time this series. “So we decided at breakfast that I wasn't going to play.”

In their absence, however, Ohtani (one hit, two walks, one RBI), Bates (two hits and two RBIs) and Teoscar Hernandez (two hits) provided star-caliber performances — even when accounting for a wacky fifth inning. A potential RBI double from Hernandez hit third-base umpire Mark Ripperger in the arm, causing Ohtani to fly out at home plate.

The bottom of the batting order was equally impressive.

Kike Hernandez made a strong case to stay in the lineup, with two hits in the first start of the series (flipping between third base and center field, depending on whether the pitcher was on a fly-ball or ground-ball). For Game 5. Lux continued his strong streak with an infield single in the sixth and an insurance two-run homer in the seventh. Even Tommy Edman, who didn't have a hit, contributed with a sacrifice bunt that scored a run.

“We grinded out some at-bats tonight and we got some runs on the board,” Muncie said, after his team went five for nine with runners in scoring position. “We're among ourselves … it was fun to watch.”

What the Dodgers hoped for coming into the game. And they failed to make it all while facing elimination the previous two years.

“We have the players and the people that can make it happen,” Teoscar Hernandez said of the Dodgers' efforts to get back in the series. “And I trust every single guy in that clubhouse.”