MLB playoffs 2024: Mookie Betts, Dodgers' bullpen battle back to tie NLDS and force a Game 5

SAN DIEGO — It would be difficult to describe the Dodgers’ outlook going into Game 4 of the NLDS as anything other than bleak. San Diego took all the momentum in the series by winning Game 2 and carried that into their own building to win a pivotal Game 3. After taking haymaker after haymaker the previous two games, the light in this Los Angeles team was beginning to dim.

Making matters worse, in a series in which they lack quality starting pitching, it was their bullpen going up against one of the league’s best starters in Dylan Cease to determine if the Dodgers would have a chance to try to extend their season at home in Game 5 or watch their division rivals celebrate sending them packing.

But with their season on the line and their backs against the wall, something happened on Wednesday in San Diego: The Dodgers finally found their fight.

“We’re a bunch of grinders,” Mookie Betts said after his team’s 8-0 victory in Game 4. “We're a bunch of fighters, and we knew this wasn't gonna be easy.”

It would have been easy for the Dodgers to quit after being punched in the mouth multiple times by a Padres team that has been taking the fight to them since Game 1. To add insult to injury — or, rather, the other way around — first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched 90 minutes before first pitch, leaving L.A.’s lineup scrambled and without a cornerstone.

Yet the Dodgers made no excuse.

Through the first two games in this series, Betts’ struggles at the plate had become apparent. With an 0-for-22 postseason streak going into Game 3, you could tell things were starting to weigh on the Dodgers’ superstar. But his home run early in Game 3 might have been just the boost he and his teammates were waiting for.

In the first inning of Game 4, Betts got L.A.’s lineup going once again, with a solo shot into the Padres’ bullpen that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead they would not relinquish.

“I think I just needed to see one fall and get a little confidence,” Betts said postgame. “I know my team did an amazing job trying to put confidence and instill confidence in me.”

But in this one, the Dodgers’ right fielder didn’t have to do all the heavy lifting. The Dodgers got multi-hit nights from Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux and Kike Hernandez, with eight of their nine starters collecting hits in the game.

L.A. scored early and in bunches, adding two runs in the second inning, two more in the third and three in the seventh to put the Padres away. The Dodgers hadn’t held more than a three-run lead at any point in this series, but when they needed to most, they opened the floodgates.

“When you go through a regular season, a lot of things are sort of calculated, and there's a lot of variables because you're playing for the longer view,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “But when you get into the postseason, it's a street fight. It's about players, and your desire has got to be more than than your opponent.

“And for me to see our guys go through what they've been through and respond the way they have really makes me excited about Game 5.”

No matter the circumstances, the Dodgers’ offense is their best weapon and a formidable foe, but if this team was going to force a Game 5 and live to fight another day, they also needed a strong performance on the mound for the first time in this series. Going with a bullpen game in Game 4 likely wasn’t anyone’s first choice to try to save the team’s season, but it’s what they had to do.

And not only did the “Johnny Wholestaff” approach work, but it also delivered the best performance by the Dodgers’ pitching so far this postseason. Opener Ryan Brasier, Anthony Banda, Michael Kopech, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Daniel Hudson, Blake Treinen and Landon Knack combined to throw nine scoreless innings, allowing seven hits and two walks en route to the team’s first shutout of the postseason. The Dodgers bullpen has now tossed 12 consecutive scoreless frames, including three to end their Game 3 loss on Tuesday.

“They were fantastic,” said catcher Will Smith, who contributed a home run in the third. “Attacking the zone, putting guys away. And put up nine zeros — we needed that tonight. So credit to those guys for keeping us in it.”

The herculean efforts from the Dodgers’ bullpen help set them up for Game 5 on Friday at Dodger Stadium. While Roberts didn’t announce the team’s plans for the winner-take-all contest, L.A. will have both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty available, as well as a day off to rest the bullpen. The team will hope the additional day of rest might also allow Freeman to get back into the lineup with the season and a trip to the NLCS on the line.

The Dodgers have played plenty of postseason baseball in recent years, and their experience in high-pressure situations has given them the ability to — as cliché as it is — take it one game at a time. With this series now even and momentum tilting in their favor as they head back to L.A., the Dodgers have a real chance to do what many believed they could not.

“We knew what we were about to do,” Betts said. “We knew the challenge we had to face, but we all just enjoyed it.”