LOS ANGELES —The New York Mets punched their ticket to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2006 with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday.
Second baseman Daniel Murphy belted the go-ahead home run as the Mets won the decisive fifth game, advancing to face the Chicago Cubs in a best-of-seven series with the winner getting a berth in the 2015 World Series.
Game one of the Mets-Cubs series is Saturday at Citi Field in New York.
The Mets allowed two runs in the first inning to erase a one-run lead but then held the Dodgers scoreless over the next eight innings in front of a crowd of 54,000 at Dodger Stadium.
“We have a tough game and something doesn’t go right, we bounce back,” said Mets manager Terry Collins.
“We have tremendous heart. We have some young guys and veteran guys. They meshed together. It’s been a blast.”
Murphy’s sixth-inning home run to right field, off Dodgers ace pitcher Zack Greinke, was his third of the series.
He went three-for-four with two RBIs and two runs in game five and was seven-for-21 with five RBIs in the series.
Mets starter Jacob deGrom struggled in the early innings allowing two runs in the first, but battled through to get the victory in the winner-take-all Major League Baseball contest.
The reigning NL rookie of the year gave up six hits, struck out seven and had three walks in six innings.
Collins considered taking deGrom out several times in the early innings but then decided to keep him in.
“He didn’t have his best stuff but he was still able to go out there and pitch like that,” Collins said.
“I thought in the middle of the game he started to pitch inside a little bit better, which speeds the bats up, so the off-speed stuff is a little more effective.”
Noah Syndergaard relieved deGrom, who was pitching on five days’ rest, and worked a scoreless seventh before closer Jeurys Familia came on in the eighth for the six-out save. Familia retired all six batters he faced. AFP
Greinke, who might have pitched his last game for the Dodgers since he can opt out of his contract, gave up three runs on six hits with nine strikeouts and no walks in 6 2/3 innings.
The Dodgers have now gone nine playoff appearances without making it to the World Series, tying the all-time league record.
“It’s just disappointing,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said.
“That’s what I told the guys in there. There are really no words to describe how you feel right now.”
The Mets and Cubs will be meeting in the postseason for the first time. Chicago won all seven contests between the two during the regular season, outscoring New York 27-11.
