LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers are returning to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2021, taking Game 5 from the San Diego Padres, 2-0. Yoshinobu Yamamoto rebounded from his shaky postseason debut to have a stellar start, and the Dodgers’ bullpen was nearly perfect again.

The Padres didn’t score a run in the final 24 innings of the NLDS, which isn’t typically the secret sauce for winning a World Series.

Both Dodgers runs scored on solo home runs off Yu Darvish, who was otherwise brilliant. Hernándezes Kiké and Teoscar each hit long, long shots off him, with Kiké’s coming on a first-pitch fastball in the second inning and Teoscar’s coming on a 2-1 slider in the seventh.

Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Michael Kopech and Blake Treinen combined for four perfect innings to close out the game, and it would appear that the Dodgers’ bullpen is peaking at the perfect time.

The Dodgers will face the New York Mets for the pennant, with Game 1 of the NLCS starting at 8:15 pm ET on Sunday.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto averaged 96.7 mph on his fastball over five shutout innings. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)

Dave Roberts didn’t need a reason to include Kiké Hernández in his lineup on Friday. It was just a matter of how he would squeeze the longtime fan favorite into the mix.

“I was just going to find a way to get him in there,” Roberts said before the game.

He had good reason. Hernández did not start any of the series’ first three games. He didn’t even appear in Game 3. But when Hernández started in Game 4, he collected a pair of hits. Given the start in Game 5, he didn’t wait. He crushed the first fastball he saw from Yu Darvish, burnishing his October reputation with his 14th career postseason home run to open the scoring and stir Dodger Stadium into an absolute frenzy.

Odds are, Hernández had already visualized it. It’s a pregame routine he’s incorporated into his October traditions, going back to the night before his three-homer game against the Chicago Cubs in the 2017 NLCS helped the Dodgers clinch the pennant.

“These are the types of games that we dream about as kids,” Hernández said in the hours before Game 5. “You’ve got to have the right mindset, the right mentality, to come in here and just find a way to dominate the day.

“Something I do at night is I visualize a lot. I go to sleep and I envision the next day, pitchers we’re facing; situations, whether it’s offensively or defensively; running the bases; and just envision myself having success all throughout the game; big moments, no matter the situation or the moment, just finding ways to get the job done.”

Padres offense goes cold at worst possible time

All year, the Padres, manager Mike Shildt and hitting coach Victor Rodriguez preached a simple objective. Let’s score one more run than the other team, they would say. For much of the year, they were quite good at it. They finished the second-best regular season in franchise history with a 22-19 record in one-run games. In one- or two-run games, they were 40-25. And in the second inning of Game 3 of this NLDS, they combined the offense’s familiar contact ability with Fernando Tatis Jr.’s familiar power to erupt for all six of their runs in a 6-5 win.

But, after that textbook display, the Padres got away from the formula that carried them to October. Remarkably, they failed to score in the final 24 innings of the series. In Game 4, they went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. In Game 5, they went 0-for-1, failed to even once advance past second base and wasted a strong pitching performance by Yu Darvish.

Ample credit belongs to the Dodgers bullpen and Yamamoto, who finally avoided being knocked around by the San Diego lineup. But, in a year when they had the roster to win it all, the Padres will remember the sting of the most untimely of offensive letdowns.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto shows his worth

For as much as the Dodgers talked about the possibility on Thursday afternoon, there was no reality in which they wouldn’t start their $325 million man in the winner-take-all Game 5. Yamamoto did his part Friday to show why. His fastball velocity was up to 96.7 mph on average. His command, while spotty early, settled in. Twice, he handled one of the hottest hitters on the planet, Fernando Tatis Jr., the second time coming on a pivotal inning-ending double play that halted the Padres’ biggest threat against him.

Hours after Roberts said the Dodgers were “making a bet on a guy to pitch the game of his life tonight,” Yamamoto delivered five scoreless innings and the finest Dodgers postseason start since Tyler Anderson threw five scoreless innings in Game 4 of the 2022 NLDS.

It was a stark difference from his previous outings against the Padres, including a Game 1 start when he allowed five runs in three innings and prompted the Dodgers to look into potential pitch-tipping.

The Dodgers’ starting pitching has been uncertain in October, but Yamamoto’s emergence could help change the calculus.

(Top photo of Kiké Hernández: Harry How / Getty Images)