NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers got the ball back to Zack.
Left-hander Clayton Kershaw produced the type of dominant postseason performance that was lacking from his otherwise stellar resume Tuesday, when he earned the win as the Dodgers staved off elimination with a 3-1 victory over the New York Mets in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Citi Field.
The series is tied at two games apiece. The decisive Game 5 will be played Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, where Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke will oppose Mets right-hander Jacob deGrom.
“I think coming in here, you think about getting a split and being able to come in here and get back home,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “Getting the ball to Zack on our field gives us a chance.”
Greinke won Game 2 on Saturday night, when he allowed two runs over seven innings in Los Angeles’ 5-2 victory. However, the Dodgers know sending a Cy Young Award contender to the mound in the winner-take-all game assures nothing with deGrom going for the Mets.
Greinke went 19-3 in the regular season and led the majors with a 1.66 ERA.
DeGrom followed up a brilliant regular season (14-8 with a 2.54 ERA) with a dominant outing in Game 1, when he struck out 13 over seven shutout innings and earned the win in the Mets’ 3-1 victory.
“It’s probably dead even, to be honest,” Kershaw said “As good as Zack is and has been the whole year, deGrom has been the same. So there’s really no home-field advantage when you’re facing a guy like deGrom. We saw that in Game 1.
Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis added, “We know we’ve got a huge mountain still to climb with an amazing starting pitcher coming against us in Game 5. Really excited to be going home and having Zack pitching Game 5, but also understanding it’s going to be a really, really big battle for us, because Jacob showed us Game 1 just how talented and special he is.”