On October 14th, 2021 the Los Angeles Dodgers faced off against the San Francisco Giants. The winner of this game would advance to the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves. Including regular season and postseason, both teams have 109 wins so whoever gets that 110th win will move on. This is the first time these rivals faced off in the postseason so tensions will be running high in this win or go home matchup. Starting on the mound for the Giants will be Logan Webbwho shut out the Dodgers in game 1. For the Dodgers they have Corey Knebel starting the game which is a different look than what most people expected. Dodgers manager Dave Robers mentioned he wanted to give the Giants a different look to end this series to try and see if they can get the jump on them.

Pitching Battle

To start this game Logan Webb was phenomenal throwing five shutout innings only giving up a couple hits. On the other side the Dodgers’ starter Knebel only went for one inning also only giving up a couple hits. He had to get out of tough situations with runners in scoring position. In the second inning the Dodgers bought out Brusdar Graterol. He had to get out of a situation with runners on first and second with only one out. He succeeded by making one batter pop out and striking out the last one. In the third inning the Dodger ace Julio Urias finally came in to try and shut down the Giants for the rest of the game.

Offense Comes Alive

Heading into the sixth inning it was still a scoreless game. Webb was still on the mound for the Giants and Urias for the Dodgers. This is where we started to see some offense out of both teams. First for the Dodgers Mookie Betts got a one out single to left field. At that time he was the only Dodger with a hit. With Corey Seager at the plate, Betts was able to steal second to give Seager a chance to bring in Betts. After Betts’ stolen base, Seager was able to respond with a hit of his own to bring in Betts and give the Dodgers the first run of the game and the lead. The Giants were able to immediately respond with Darin Ruf hitting a solo home run to start the bottom of the sixth. This tied the game heading into the final three innings.

Wild Ending

Going into the ninth and final inning both teams were dead even with one run each and six hits each. Dodgers had runners on first and second, one out and, Cody Bellinger at the plate. With a one ball and two strike count, Bellinger was able to get a base hit to bring in Justin Turner from second and give the Dodgers a two to one lead. This meant the Dodgers just needed three outs to win this game. Roberts made the call to bring in Max Scherzer to try and end this game. Only giving up one hit, Scherzer was able to close out the game in order to give the Dodgers the victory. This sets up a National League Championship Series rematch between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves.