It was as if the beautiful weather and the serene setting were delivering a message to the Los Angeles Dodgers vacation beckons.
Soon after the first pitch was thrown a vacation seemed inevitable for the Dodgers who after Tuesday night s dispiriting defeat knew that another loss to the St. Louis Cardinals would end their season.
Zack Greinke allowed a leadoff single to Matt Carpenter and then walked Carlos Beltran on four pitches. A high pop fly by Matt Holliday landed in a place that left fielder Carl Crawford after a long run and a dive could not reach and that shortstop Hanley Ramirez with a cracked rib could not afford to chase down. The bases were loaded with nobody out.
The table was neatly set for the Cardinals to have the first breakout inning of this tightly contested series and for the Dodgers to make their exit from it.
But Greinke and the rest of his teammates showed that they were not ready to be written off just yet. Greinke struck out Matt Adams and got Yadier Molina to hit a grounder to third baseman Juan Uribe who stepped on the bag and had his one hop throw gobbled up by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez for a double play.
Buoyed by the escape and bolstered by Gonzalez who hit two of their four home runs the Dodgers staved off elimination with a 6 4 victory in Game 5 that sends the National League Championship Series back to St. Louis for its conclusion.
We re still climbing the mountain Dodgers catcher A. J. Ellis said. But we re a little bit closer than we were at the start of the day.
The Cardinals lead the series three games to two but their grip on it is suddenly less secure. On Friday they will face the presumptive N.L. Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw whom they managed to beat in Game 2 by scoring a single unearned run.
They must also face the specter of another postseason collapse. The Cardinals blew a 3 1 lead against San Francisco in the N.L.C.S. last year one of four times the franchise has blown a 3 1 lead in the postseason. The others were in the 1968 World Series to Detroit the 1985 World Series to Kansas City and the 1996 N.L.C.S. to Atlanta.
Perhaps a day off and the return home to their fans will help clear the Cardinals heads of unpleasant thoughts.
I don t know why you guys continue talking about last year Molina said. It s different. We re facing another team. We re still in a good position.
Molina one of baseball s best and most astute catchers had an imprint on Wednesday s game that he would rather forget killing two potential breakthrough innings by hitting into double plays. He also struck out twice.
Molina came to the plate in the third with Greinke on the ropes again. Beltran had tripled in a run just missing a home run with a ball that banged off the 395 feet sign in center field and Holliday had followed with a double to score Beltran and tie the game 2 2. Adams had gotten on base when he hit a broken bat dribbler that was too slow for second baseman Mark Ellis who was playing in shallow right field to reach.
Molina though hit a one hopper to Greinke who fired to Ellis. Ellis then threw to Gonzalez in plenty of time to end the inning.
To me those were the two at bats that changed the game A. J. Ellis said of the double plays adding that giving up several runs in the first would have been an emotional backbreaker for us.
This series has mostly been defined by dominating pitching and determined by whoever could cobble together enough decisive at bats or plays in the field. While those little plays played their part Wednesday so did a power surge by the Dodgers.
In the third inning Gonzalez blasted a home run the Dodgers first of the series deep into the right field pavilion for a 3 2 lead. When Gonzalez arrived at the dugout after rounding the bases he put his hands up by his ears a gibe at the Cardinals. Adam Wainwright had referred to Gonzalez s celebration in the Dodgers Game 3 victory as Mickey Mouse antics.
I was just having fun with the comment Gonzalez said. I m going to retire them. I don t need it to get out of hand.
The Dodgers got a little more comfortable in the fifth. Carl Crawford who had struck out on a 3 2 breaking ball in his previous at bat was ready when Joe Kelly threw another on a full count and he ripped this one over the wall in right.
A. J. Ellis added a solo homer off Edward Mujica in the seventh and Gonzalez hit another in the eighth off John Axford. It appeared to be a coup de gr ce from the Dodgers but they wound up needing those runs when closer Kenley Jansen had a shaky ninth allowing two runs before he struck out pinch hitter Adron Chambers to end the game with the tying runs on base.
When he did the capacity crowd exhaled as much as it roared. Shadows had crept across the field but the air was still warm and the Dodgers hopes remained alive. For now vacation plans will wait. A trip to St. Louis beckons.
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