Hernández: Don't think about it too much, Dodgers. Game 5 was supposed to be another bullpen game

That worked, nothing else worked. You might as well run it back.

The Dodgers will have to rely on their surprise ace again to save their season.

This is not Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That's not Jack Flaherty.

This is TBD – still to be determined.

For the Dodgers, the deciding game of their National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres on Friday is likely to be a bullpen game.

What other options do they have after eight of their relievers beat the Padres 8-0 at Petco Park on Wednesday night, leaving the series tied at two games apiece?

“That’s obviously a good thought,” said manager Dave Roberts.

The Dodgers have a flawed rotation and a reliable bullpen. It would be handy to remove the problematic part of their pitch equation.

Bullpen games are not a sustainable solution to their starting pitching problems, as the relievers would quickly be depleted if eight of them pitched in every game.

But the Dodgers can worry about how they'll fare in the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets once they get there. Right now, they need to win a single game, and the obvious answer to how to do that is another bullpen game, especially since the relievers who pitched in Game 4 can recover with a day off on Thursday.

Dodgers reliever Michael Kopech reacts during the third inning on Wednesday against the Padres.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

“We've said it all year: This bullpen is special,” said left-hander Alex Vesia, who accounted for five of the 27 outs the Dodgers recorded in Game 4.

Of the 21 runs the Padres scored in this best-of-five series, 15 came against Dodgers starters Yamamoto, Flaherty and Walker Buehler.

All six runs for the Dodgers bullpen came in a 10-2 score in Game 2, and four of them came at the hands of Michael Grove and Edgardo Henriquez, who are not considered high-leverage weapons. Grove was removed from the active roster on Tuesday due to a shoulder injury.

There's something unsettling about watching the franchise of Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela and Clayton Kershaw resort to bullpen play at the most critical moments of the season, but Andrew Friedman's Dodgers are not Buzzie Bavasi's Dodgers or Fred Claire's Dodgers.

When asked about fans who are turned off by bullpen games, Vesia replied: “I would say they haven't watched enough Dodger baseball this year to be like that. “I would say if they were watching us , they would have a different opinion.”

In their eight regular-season bullpen games – straight bullpen games, as opposed to games in which they used an opener in front of a starting pitcher – the Dodgers were 5-3 with a 2.92 earned run average.

With Ryan Brasier recording the first four outs in Game 4 as the designated opener, the Dodgers controlled the first innings more efficiently than any of their starters.

Yamamoto was beaten for five runs in just three innings in Game 1, his performance so alarming that Roberts was convinced he was the deciding factor. Flaherty gave up four runs in 5 ⅓ innings in Game 2 and Buehler gave up six runs in five innings in Game 3.

Yamamoto, Flaherty and Buehler have a combined ERA of 10.13 in this series. Sending either of them to the mound at Dodger Stadium in Game 5 would be too big of a gamble, especially with Yu Darvish starting for the Padres. Darvish has a track record against the Dodgers, limiting them to one run in seven innings in Game 2.

Against the Dodgers relievers, the Padres hitters looked like the Dodgers hitters against Darvish.

The game went more or less as the Dodgers planned, thanks in large part to the efficiency of Vesia, Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson. Vesia gave up the order in the fourth inning after just 12 pitches, allowing him to return for the fifth inning and get two more outs. Phillips recorded four outs on 10 pitches. Hudson threw nine pitches in a scoreless seventh.

Roberts used his most reliable pitchers to attack the heart of the Padres lineup, calling out Michael Kopech in the third inning, Phillips in the fifth and Blake Treinen in the eighth inning.

“They were all fantastic,” catcher Will Smith said. “Attacking the zone, throwing guys away, putting up nine zeros and that’s what we needed tonight.”

The Dodgers will need that from their backup players again on Friday. This is their best and perhaps only path to the NLCS.