The first few minutes of the New York Mets' clash against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the NLCS did not go favorably for the home team. But the rest of the game did.
Mets lefthander David Peterson started Game 5 by surrendering a single to Shohei Ohtani and a double to Mookie Betts, bringing the heart of the Dodgers' order up with no outs and two runners in scoring positions. One swing of the bat could end the Mets' season.
But just when it seemed New York was flirting with disaster, Peterson buckled down and retired the next three batters to get out of the jam. Pete Alonso answered with a three-run blast in the bottom half of the first, and the Mets never looked back in their 12–6 win.
Let the Grimace costumes in the stands rejoice: There will be a Game 6 at Dodger Stadium.
Here are three takeaways from the Mets' win in Game 5:
Polar Bear power
Don't bet against Alonso in an win-or-go-home game.
With the Mets facing elimination Friday night for the first time since Alonso's game-winning homer in the ninth inning of Game 3 in the wild-card round, the 29-year-old slugger stepped up again. He clobbered a 432-foot tater in the first inning—the Mets' longest postseason homer in the Statcast era—to open a 3–0 lead. He went 2-for-4 on the day with four runs scored and three RBIs.
Alonso, set to be a free agent this offseason, might play his final game in a Mets uniform at some point this fall. But Friday night was not that game.
Mets don't mess around with bullpen
Once leading by as many as eight runs, the Mets saw their lead get cut to 10–6 in the sixth inning, as Andy Pages homered twice and Mookie Betts found the bleachers on a solo shot. After a scoreless seventh inning, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza didn't want to tempt fate.
As the Dodgers prepared to send Pages, Shohei Ohtani and Betts to the plate in the eighth, Mendoza called upon his best arm out of the bullpen in closer Edwin Diaz to finish off a five-run game.
Diaz struck out Pages and Ohtani, and got Betts to ground out for a 1-2-3 eighth. And even though the Mets scored an insurance run in the bottom half of the eighth, Mendoza stuck with Diaz in the ninth, and it paid off with a scoreless frame to close out the win.
Dave Roberts's risky decision
Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty allowed six baserunners and one run over the first two innings, and he ran into trouble again in the third by walking the first two batters he faced.
Instead of calling upon his bullpen to keep the 3–1 game in reach, Roberts opted to keep Flaherty in the game. Three pitches later, he served up a two-run double to Starling Marte, followed by three more hits and three additional runs.
By the time Flaherty exited the game, the Mets held an 8–1 lead, putting the game pretty much out of reach, even for the Dodgers' explosive offense.
Los Angeles is expected to roll out a bullpen game for Game 6 on Sunday.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mets Come Alive in NLCS Game 5 to Beat Dodgers, Stave Off Elimination .
