WASHINGTON _ At 12:12 a.m. on Friday, as a game, a series and a season hung in the balance, Clayton Kershaw climbed up the steps of the Los Angeles Dodgers dugout. He walked alone, amid the silence of Nationals Park, toward his team's bullpen. Hours before, his manager insisted Kershaw would not pitch in this game, even as his team fought to advance past the Washington Nationals in the fifth game of the National League division series.
Dave Roberts was mistaken.
In the ninth inning of a 4-3 victory, a heart-wrenching game that lasted a record 4 hours and 32 minutes, Kershaw recorded the final two outs. He was pitching on a day of rest, so soon after a 110-pitch effort Tuesday. He could not finish Game 4. But he finished Game 5.
Kershaw entered with two men on and one out. Kenley Jansen had expended himself, throwing 51 pitches to drag the team from the seventh inning into the ninth. Kershaw did not crumble. He erased Daniel Murphy, the Nationals' most accomplished hitter, with a popup. When he struck out Wilmer Difo for the final out, the entirety of the roster mobbed him.
To advance, Kershaw and the Dodgers erased a slew of first-round demons as they advanced to the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs, who will host them Saturday at Wrigley Field.
Justin Turner launched a two-run triple to cap a four-run rally in the seventh as the Dodgers surged ahead. Held scoreless by Max Scherzer for six innings, the offense exploded in time.
To hold back the Nationals, manager Dave Roberts threaded the needle through a nine innings without a starter on a full tank. He received 2 2/3 innings from Rich Hill, then spent the rest of his evening mixing and matching his bullpen.
To take the lead, Roberts utilized all three of his catchers in the seventh inning. After a solo homer by Joc Pederson off Scherzer tied the score, Yasmani Grandal walked and took second base on a single by Howie Kendrick. Austin Barnes replaced Grandal on the bases. At the plate was the third catcher, Carlos Ruiz, who smacked a go-ahead single to score Barnes.
Then came Turner's triple off the wall in center against reliever Shawn Kelley. The seventh inning had merely begun. The frame lasted an hour and six minutes. It was not easy on Roberts' heart. Grant Dayton surrendered a two-run homer to former Dodger Chris Heisey. Roberts sent Jansen into the game, and he escaped a bases-loaded jam to keep the Dodgers ahead by one.
The teams returned to Nationals Park with the odds tilted in Washington's favor. The Nationals could re-use Scherzer, a 20-game winner. The Dodgers had to scramble to prep Hill and arrange their bullpen for extended duty.
The Dodgers finalized their strategy Wednesday. The medical staff cleared Hill, who was hampered by blisters in the second half, to appear on three days of rest. The team sifted through the matchups, stitching together different pitchers for different scenarios.
"It's funny," Roberts said before the game. "I've got a process in place, a plan. But it just never seems to work out."
The game soon proved Roberts right. Murphy aggravated the Dodgers for four games with his bat. In the fifth game, despite his lackluster speed and his strained buttocks, he added his legs to the mix. After a leadoff single in the second inning, he stole second when Hill spiked a curveball in the dirt and Grandal made an inexact throw.
Enthralled with Murphy at second, Hill spun around twice to attempt pickoffs. He could not find the zone against first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who walked on five pitches. Up next came shortstop Danny Espinosa, who punched a curveball into right field, giving Murphy another chance to run.
Josh Reddick's throw pulled Grandal up the third-base line, where Murphy danced around him and stomped on the plate for the game's first run.
The Nationals continued to manufacture angst for Hill in the third. Trea Turner greeted him with a single, then swiped second base. He jetted to third base on a flyout to center. After Hill struck out Werth, at last the Dodgers conceded their inability to retire Murphy.
Rather than let Hill face Murphy with two out and a runner at third base, Roberts opened up his bullpen. He ordered an intentional walk for Murphy. Then he raised his right arm and called upon Joe Blanton.
With two runners aboard, Blanton sized up third baseman Anthony Rendon. He would not see a fastball for the entirety of the at-bat. After a curveball, Blanton spun five sliders in a row. Rendon sprayed the last into Pederson's glove in center.
Finding a run against Scherzer was less simple. The team squandered a bases-loaded chance in the fifth. After singles by Reddick and Pederson, Andrew Toles lifted a one-out hit just above Murphy's glove. Roberts sent Andre Ethier to pinch-hit for Blanton. Ethier could not replicate his production from Game 4. He struck out, and Scherzer got Chase Utley to ground out.
The Nationals could not extend their lead against Julio Urias, who went two innings to pick up the victory.
The 20-year-old picked off Harper to end the fifth. Washington third base coach Bob Henley handed Urias a gift in the sixth. With Werth at first, Rendon doubled into the left-field corner. Henley sent Werth, who was thrown out by at least 10 feet.
Hours before the game, Washington manager Dusty Baker admitted something that is not a secret. He planned to stick with Scherzer longer than he would any other pitcher. Scherzer is an ace, a man worthy of a $210 million contract.
But Baker stayed with him for one batter too many. In the top of the seventh, Pederson took a 96-mph fastball over the left-field fence and celebrated all the way around the bases and into the dugout.
The ballpark sounded stricken. Baker came to get Scherzer. The madness had only begun.
