Scroll down to join us for live scoring updates, news and analysis Thursday night when the Giants face the Dodgers in Game 5.
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GAME ESSENTIALS: Giants (107-55 regular season) vs. Dodgers (106-56) at Oracle Park, 6:07 p.m. PT. TV: TBS; Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Ron Darling (color commentary), Lauren Shehadi (on-field reporter). RADIO: KNBR 104.5 FM/680 AM (English), KSFN 1510 AM (Spanish)
PITCHERS: Logan Webb (11-3 regular season, 3.03 ERA) vs. Corey Knebel (4-0, 2.45)
ODDS: Giants -180, Dodgers +155. OVER/UNDER: 7.
SERIES: Now tied at 2-2 in the best-of-5 NLDS after Los Angeles stayed alive with a 7-2 victory in Game 4 on Tuesday night.. San Francisco won this year’s regular-season matchup 10-9 and, including this series, holds a 12-11 advantage overall.
Given how close the Giants-Dodgers race has been, you just knew it had to come to this. Both the Giants and Dodgers come into Thursday’s showdown with 109 victories this season.
“This is what baseball wants,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts after Game 4. “As I understand, all the series are done and so we’re going to be the only show in town. So if you have a pulse or you’re a sports fan, you better be watching Dodgers-Giants. It’s going to be a great one.”
Roberts threw the first curveball at the Giants Thursday morning when he announced relief pitcher Corey Knebel, and not 20-game winner Julio Urias, would start Game 5 as the opener. Perhaps Roberts sees this as a chance to steal at least three outs against what should be a right-handed heavy Giants lineup with Urias still expected to see a bulk of the work Thursday?
Regardless of their starter, the Dodgers come into Game 5 with confidence. Not only have they won five consecutive elimination games in less than a year, they’ll have Urias, baseball’s only 20-game winner at 20-3 with a 2.96 ERA, presumably doing most of the pitching. Urias, who was 13-2 with a 2.71 ERA on the road this year, was dominant in Game 2 at Oracle Park. He gave up just three hits and one run in five innings, striking out five and walking one to earn the victory.
Still, the Giants have to feel very confident with the 24-year-old Webb on the mound. After firing 7 2/3 shutout innings against the Dodgers last Friday, Webb will pitch the biggest game of his life for his third consecutive start. Webb, one of the top pitchers in the game in the second half, led the Giants to the NL West-clinching win on the final game of the regular season before blanking the Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLDS.
Thursday’s winner will advance to face the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.