Yoshinobu Yamamoto outlasted Yu Darvish in a historic playoff duel between Japanese-born starters, and the Los Angeles Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernández and Teoscar Hernández to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Friday and advance to the Series National League Championship.
Yamamoto allowed two hits in five innings for the Dodgers before being retired after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals meeting in a Division Series for the third time in five years.
Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers will play the wild-card New York Mets in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series beginning Sunday night in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers won a decisive Game 5 at home for the first time since winning a 1981 National League Division Series against Houston after a season split into halves following a players' strike. With the majors' best overall season record, 98-64, they successfully avoided a third consecutive NLDS elimination.
The Padres' big hitters failed with their season on the line. Three-time batting champion Luis Arráez, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jurickson Profar and Manny Machado were 1 for 14 in Game 5 as Los Angeles pitchers retired their final 19 batters.
San Diego went scoreless over the final 24 innings of the series, losing the final two games after taking a 2-1 lead at home.
Yamamoto and Darvish were the first Japanese-born starting pitchers to face each other in Major League Baseball playoff history. Yamamoto, 26, was the fifth rookie to start a winner-take-all game in Dodgers history.
Yamamoto handed the ball to a stellar bullpen that carried the Dodgers through the regular season when their starters were severely hampered by injuries. Evan Phillips got five outs, fanning Profar and Machado in the seventh before Alex Vesia grounded out rookie standout Jackson Merrill to end the inning.
Vesia was warming up for the eighth when he went out injured. Michael Kopech came in and worked a perfect inning before Blake Treinen got three quick outs for his second save of the series.
Tatis grounded out to end the game when Kike Hernandez made the play after moving from center field to third base for the ninth.
Ohtani's childhood idol Darvish, 38, gave up an early home run to Kike Hernandez and then scored 14 in a row. Teoscar Hernández's home run chased Darvish in the seventh and made it 2-0.
The Padres and Dodgers combined to retire 26 consecutive batters, the longest streak in a single game in postseason history.
Darvish allowed two runs and three hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out four and walking one.
Darvish and Ohtani teamed up to help Japan win last year's World Baseball Classic, but on Friday they were rivals. Ohtani struck out three times, including twice against Darvish in a game seen Saturday morning in Japan.
Ohtani hit a game-tying three-run homer in Game 1, his playoff debut, but was mostly quiet the rest of the series after becoming the first player in major league history to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.
The teams combined to score 43 runs in the first five games of the series, but the winner-take-all finale was a tense pitcher's affair in front of a sellout crowd of 53,183 that included Los Angeles superstar Angeles Lakers, LeBron James, and a Hollywood contingent. Brad Pitt, Rob Lowe, Bryan Cranston and Jimmy Kimmel.
The Padres finished the series scoreless since the second inning of Game 3.
Yamamoto successfully covered first base three times after inducing ground balls, making things easier for All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who started after missing Game 4 with a sprained right ankle.
The Dodgers led 1-0 with Kike Hernández's drive with two outs in the second. It was the 14th postseason home run for Hernandez, who returned to the Dodgers this season to make an impact in October.
Los Angeles avoided elimination in San Diego with an 8-0 victory in Game 4 to force the deciding game back home, where fans throwing balls and trash on the field caused a 12-minute delay in a loss from Game 2. The public address announcer warned fans midway through the fifth Friday not to throw objects or go onto the field.