A perfect game lurks inside L.A.'s scoreless innings record

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have no Clayton Kershaw, no Tyler Glassnow, no Tony Gonsolin, no Gavin Stone, no Dustin May, and no Shohei Ohtani (pitcher) for that matter. Their Yoshinobu Yamamoto is still patient after missing just shy of three months with a shoulder injury. They battled Walker Buehler to the finish line in a season in which he returned from his second Tommy John surgery only to be bothered by a bad hip.

And through it all, they also have a record for postseason pitching excellence — including a hidden perfect game.

It was 33 consecutive scoreless innings and counting for Dodgers pitchers — and matched the 1966 single postseason streak — after Jack Flaherty, Daniel Hudson and Ben Casperius shut out the surging Mets with a three-hit shutout 9-0 in Game 1 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium. Orioles for longest scoreless streak.

“They went out there and dominated,” said Dodgers catcher Will Smith, who has been behind the plate for every inning of the streak. “I'm back there calling the pitches, but all those guys are implementing what we decide. We're just trying to keep it going.”

The '66 Orioles, featuring 20-year-old future Hall of Famer Jim Palmer, went 33 innings in games 1-4 of the 1966 World Series, all against the Dodgers, who were swept in a series that ended with three straight shutouts.

Now these Dodgers have won three straight shutouts of their own, starting in Games 4 and 5 of the NLDS against the Padres and continuing with an NLCS opener against the Mets that saw LA rewrite the record books.

While part Mets baserunning mistakes, part masterful defensive play by center fielder Keke Hernandez helped Flaherty complete a scoreless fifth inning, giving Dodgers pitchers 29 consecutive innings without giving up a run. According to Elias, this set the NL record for a single postseason hit, besting the 119-year-old mark set by the New York Giants over 2-5 games in the 1905 World Series. It is the only other team in MLB history, along with the '66 Orioles and '24 Dodgers, to throw three consecutive shutouts in the postseason.

And when LA left fielder Teoscar Hernandez reached over the wall down the left-field line to make the inning-ending out catch, the Dodgers' scoreless streak went to 30 innings, the longest stretch in baseball by only the '66 Orioles.

By the end of the night, the Dodgers were tied for history.

“It's picking up where the last guy left off,” Flaherty said. “You know the guy coming after you. And that's why this whole team feels like everybody's feeding off each other now.”

The '24 Dodgers started their own streak in the wake of a six-run second inning by the Padres in Game 3 of the NLDS in San Diego. The Dodgers lost that game, but did not allow a run over the final six innings. They then continued the streak with back-to-back shutout wins in Games 4 and 5 to send their season to the NLCS.

Flaherty got a little help from the Dodgers' defense — and Mets designated hitter Jesse Winker — to snap a scoreless streak long enough for a National League record. After Winker led off the fifth inning with a single, Jose Iglesias dropped another base hit to left-center field. When Winker took a wide turn around second base, Kike Hernandez made an acrobatic throw behind Winker from second that caused Winker to pause long enough on his way to third, anticipating a rundown. He was the first out in what turned out to be another scoreless inning.

“It might change the outlook of that inning, the way it's pitched,” Flaherty said. “It was huge.”

“The game was still in the balance, and they started to put an inning together,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Just a headache baseball game. Right there, I thought, taking the wind out [the Mets’] herd.”

If that wasn't good enough, there was a streak within a streak. Before Francisco led off the fourth inning against Lindor Flaherty to give the Mets their first baserunner, Dodgers pitchers retired 28 batters facing back-to-back Game 5 of the NLDS, the third-most in a single postseason, according to Elias.

Both of the longest streaks belong to the Yankees. The 2004 Yanks retired 29 in a row between ALDS Game 4 against the Twins and ALCS Game 1 against the Red Sox, and the 1956 Yankees retired 31 Brooklyn Dodgers in a row from Games 4-6, including 27 up in the 1956 World Series. Game 5 came down to Don Larsen's perfect game.

Only three other teams can claim a similar “hidden perfect game” in postseason history. All of these clubs retired 27 consecutive batters in a single postseason: the 1939 Reds Games 3-4 World Series, the 1927 Yankees Games 2-3 World Series, and the 1926 Cardinals Games 2-3 World Series. .

“The game has definitely changed, and I think from our perspective, it's just a collective effort,” Roberts said. “Obviously all the players involved in those scoreless innings were great, and I think defensively, we were very good at converting outs when we needed to be. I think the coaches did a great job of relaying the information and making it real and allowed our pitchers and catchers to do a great job of sequencing, catching the ball the right way. And the front office, just the information we get.

“I just think how we're preventing the run, it's a total team effort.”