Dodgers-Giants Deciding Game 5 Set for Thursday Night
One of the great rivalries in baseball history will finally decide a winner in the epic back-and-forth NL Division Series on Thursday night, with first pitch at 9:07 Eastern Time. Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants have had spectacular seasons, with San Fran winning 107 games to LA’s 106 victories during the regular season.
As only baseball would have it, one of these great teams will have their season end come the early hours of Friday morning. The winner will head to the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves, which begins this weekend. The loser will start thinking about the Arizona sun and warmth of Spring Training.
The Dodgers forced the deciding Game 5 thanks to a 7-2 thumping of the Giants out in Chavez Ravine.
Mookie Betts’ two-run blast to right-center field gave LA a 4-0 lead that they would never relinquish.
it was a big night for Betts, last season’s World Series MVP; as he collected a pair of hits and three RBI, including a sac fly that drove a run in in the fifth inning to make it a 5-1 ballgame.
Thursday night’s deciding Game 5 will feature Julio Urius on the hill for the Dodgers. Countering will be the Giants’ Logan Webb.
Urius held the Giants to just a run on five hits in Game 2 of this series, a Dodgers 9-2 victory. Urius has been phenomenal this year, posting a 20-3 record with a 2.96 ERA; in fact LA has won its last 13 games that Urius has started. The Dodgers have needed Urius to be great, especially with Clayton Kershaw sidelined for the season with a flexor tendon injury.
The last time the Dodgers lost a game Urius started it was July 27 against the Giants.
On the flip side, Logan Webb has been excellent for the Giants. He is 6-0 with a 1.96 ERA at home this year. He recently blanked the Dodgers over 7-2/3 innings in Game 1 of this series, a game San Francisco won 4-0. It is also interesting to note that in the four games Webb has started against the Dodgers this year, including Game 1 of this series, the Giants have gone on to win.
It should be an incredible night of baseball between two of the games greatest rivals.
