The Dodgers silenced the Padres in Game 5 to reach the NLCS

LOS ANGELES — Yoshinobu Yamamoto outshot Yu Darvish in a historic playoff matchup of Japanese-born starters and the Los Angeles Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Friday night in the National League Championship Series.

Yamamoto allowed two hits over five for the Dodgers before being pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 of the heated rivals meeting in the NL Division Series for the third time in five years.

The Dodgers will play the New York Mets in a best-of-seven NLCS game starting Sunday night in Los Angeles.

It will be the 16th NLCS appearance for the Dodgers in franchise history, the second most by any team since the round began in 1969.

The Dodgers won a decisive Game 5 at home for the first time since a season was cut in half after a players' strike against Houston in the 1981 NL Division Series. Boasting the majors' best regular-season record of 98–64, they successfully avoided NLDS elimination for the third time.

The Padres' big hitters wrestle with their seasons on the line. Three-time batting champion Luis Ariz, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jurickson Proffer and Manny Machado were 1-for-14 in Game 5 as the final 19 San Diego batters were retired.

The Padres' two hits are tied for second-fewest in all-time winner-take-all games. The 2022 Mets are the only team with fewer hits (1) against the Padres in the wild-card round.

San Diego went scoreless for the final 24 innings of the series, dropping the last two games after taking a 2-1 lead back home.

Yamamoto and Darvish are the first Japanese-born starting pitchers to square off in major league playoff history. The 26-year-old Yamamoto became the fifth rookie in Dodgers history to start a winner-take-all game.

ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.