The Dodgers overcome their frustrations with a win in NLDS Game 5 against the Padres

Blake Treinen threw his hands to the sky. His teammates poured out of the dugout and swallowed him up near the mound.

Around them, the collective force of 53,000 fans, all too used to the frustration and heartbreak of October, roared in maddened unison.

And not for the last time this fall either.

Not after a nearly flawless performance from her ball club on Friday.

With a 2-0 loss to the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the National League Division Series, the Dodgers did more than just eliminate their Southern California rivals and advanced to the NL Championship Series.

With an eye on a third straight potential NLDS exit, they banded together, shutting down the Padres' potent lineup and exorcising some crazy demons from the recent postseason in the process.

In the last two years and in three of the last five years, the Dodgers have failed to produce a moment like Friday's.

In 2019, 2022 and 2023, they watched as clubs that won the division and won 100 balls were eliminated from the playoffs in the best-of-five round of the divisional series.

Even in 2020, when they won a World Series in that stretch, their NLDS victory came on a neutral site and in front of zero fans.

That was different. That was catharsis.

“We didn’t come here to win the NL West,” utility player Kiké Hernández said before the game. “We came to win the World Series.”

For the first time in three years, they have finally taken the first step towards the championship.

In the Dodgers' first win in the postseason series in front of a home crowd since 2013, a loud 53,183 fans had reason to cheer from the start.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers' $325 million offseason signing tasked with starting Game 5, set the tone with a one-two in the inning, even after he missed his pitches in a three-inning game in Game 1. and five-run clunker hit first, then ground out in the second with two outs.

Hernández then delivered the first big hit of the night, driving a fastball off Padres starter Yu Darvish's first pitch into the top of the left field pavilion in the bottom of the second pitch.

From then on, Darvish dominated – until he didn’t.

After retiring 14 consecutive batters following Hernández's home run, the Dodgers brought in the veteran right-hander (who had a 2.27 ERA in his regular season against his former club) and held them to a Game 2 win over San Diego to one run over seven innings) deep in the seventh.

On a 2-on-1 count, Teoscar Hernández got a slider across the plate. After placing it in the left field seats with a line-drive solo blower, he threw his bat away with one hand. The ensuing chaos caused the Chávez Gorge to shake.

Teoscar Hernández celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the Dodgers' 2-0 victory over the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of the NLDS on Friday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

“This is the first time I've been in an atmosphere like this,” Hernández, the veteran slugger who signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers this offseason, told the Fox broadcast following the dugout. “But I love this. That's why I came here.”

Meanwhile, the Dodgers pitching staff gave the Padres no back, finishing the series with back-to-back shutouts and an impressive 24 consecutive scoreless innings.

Yamamoto commanded his fastball with precision and fired an unbeatable barrage of sliders, curveballs and splitters, resulting in a scoreless five-inning outing that was exactly what the Dodgers were hoping for and more.

Afterwards, Evan Phillips got five outs and caused a stir when he left the mound after a strikeout by Manny Machado (who hit two balls to the warning line early in the game but ended the series with a three-for-20 slump). . .

A cursing, screaming Alex Vesia had his veins popping out of his neck after defeating Jackson Merrill to end the seventh.

There was a nervous moment early in the eighth when Vesia – who returned to the mound for the second inning with a series of left-handed pitchers – called for a trainer during warmups and left the game, apparently injured.

This forced Roberts to turn to the strong right-hander Michael Kopech earlier than desired and instead play matches that were better suited to the left-handed Vesia.

Doesn't matter.

Kopech retired in order and punctuated the inning by blowing a 102 mph fastball past Jake Cronenworth. Trienen took care of the ninth, setting up an NLCS meeting with the New York Mets that will begin Sunday at Dodger Stadium.

After two years of misery in early October, the Dodgers will play deep into the fall this year.

Eight more wins separate them from a World Series title.

But in a postseason all about redemption, the Dodgers' triumph Friday night was a long-awaited start.