By BETH HARRIS

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — After spending the first seven years of his big league career back East, Jack Flaherty came home. He joined a winning team in the Los Angeles Dodgers and helped make a bit of playoff history.

Flaherty combined on a three-hitter and Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers tied the postseason record of 33 consecutive scoreless innings by routing the New York Mets 9-0 Sunday night in the NL Championship Series opener.

“I saw some family out there when I was warming up and I had gone to games here with them before, so it just kind of lets you relax a little bit,” he said. “Felt I tried to do too much the last couple times out in some big games. Just allowed me to be myself and just go out and pitch and trust my stuff and trust the guys behind me.”

Los Angeles knocked out a wild Kodai Senga in the second inning, built a six-run lead by the fourth and matched the scoreless record set by Baltimore Orioles pitchers over the first four games of the 1966 World Series against the Dodgers.

Backed by chants of “MVP! MVP!” Shohei Ohtani was 2 for 4 with a walk while scoring two runs and driving in another.

Mookie Betts added a three-run double in the eighth in the largest shutout victory margin in Dodgers postseason history and also the Mets’ most one-sided postseason shutout defeat.

“Our energy all started with Jack,” Betts said. “Jack really gave it to us today.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Monday afternoon.

Flaherty allowed two hits over seven innings in the Dodgers’ first scoreless postseason start of seven-plus innings since Clayton Kershaw’s eight innings in the 2020 NL Wild Card Series.

“It was just a pitching clinic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought he did a great job of filling up the strike zone with his complete mix. Once we caught a lead, he did a great job of just going after those guys and attacking. For us to get seven innings in a long series was huge.”

Flaherty left to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 53,503. The 28-year-old right-hander from nearby Burbank returned home from Detroit at the July 30 trade deadline and has been a steadying presence in a rotation hard-hit by injuries.

“He’s got an aura about him,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “He’s super competitive, super focused.”

Flaherty got a hug from Roberts and then the pitcher hugged his mother who sat behind home plate. Some of his buddies from their Little League days in the San Fernando Valley were on hand, too.

“This game is a lot of fun and I’ve been lucky to do it since I was a little kid,” Flaherty said. “As high pressure as they get, I just tell the guys it’s going to be fun. We’ve got to remember that sometimes.”

Flaherty retired his first nine batters, extending the Dodgers streak of consecutive hitters retired to 28, before walking Francisco Lindor leading off the fourth. New York’s only hits off him were a pair of singles by Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias in the fifth. Flaherty struck out six.

“He was getting ahead with his fastball and then the slider, the breaking ball, the slow curve kept us off-balance, but he was getting ahead and making pitches,” rookie Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He tried to make us chase, which we did the first time through the order. Then he was just on.”

Daniel Hudson and Ben Casparius pitched an inning each.

Lindor was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout and Pete Alonso went hitless in three at-bats with a walk and a strikeout.

The Dodgers rallied from the brink of elimination against San Diego to win the NL Division Series in five games with shutouts in the last two games.

They opened their pursuit of a record 25th NL pennant by chasing Senga after 1 1/3 innings of his just third overall start in a year decimated by injuries. The Japanese right-hander walked four of his first eight batters, including three in a row in a 14-pitch span in the first inning.

“He didn’t have it,” Mendoza said. “He didn’t have the life on his fastball and a lot of balls out of hand, non-competitive pitches, especially the split. You could tell that the way that they were taking those pitches they were balls out of the hand.”

Senga walked the bases loaded with one out in the first, when just seven of his 23 pitches were thrown for strikes. Max Muncy singled up the middle, scoring Betts and a hobbled Freddie Freeman, who touched the plate with his left foot to protect his sprained right ankle. He staggered into the arms of Betts, who steadied the much bigger and taller Freeman.

Ohtani chased Senga with an RBI single in the second and the Dodgers tacked on three runs in the fourth off reliever David Peterson as Tommy Edman and Freeman had RBI singles.

UP NEXT

The Mets’ Sean Manaea starts Game 2 after winning Game 3 of the NL Division Series against Philadelphia. It’ll be the first time the Dodgers face a lefty starter in this postseason. The Dodgers didn’t say who will start a bullpen game for them.

Competing on the main floor at Ball Arena for the first time since their Game 7 playoff heartbreaker, the Nuggets pushed their starters deep into the game against the Phoenix Suns’ reserves Sunday night in a preseason contest.

The result was not the expected one: a 118-104 loss for Denver, which fell to 0-3 this preseason after shooting 33% from 3-point range to Phoenix’s 46%. Next up is a home matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.

Up-tempo mayhem

Every NBA coach, every year, seems to make it a preseason goal to play faster. Michael Malone is no exception. But it’s not just talk so far. The Nuggets have made a concerted effort in these exhibition games to get the ball up the floor at a more frenetic pace, be it after a live-ball change of possession or via Nikola Jokic recklessly testing out 40-foot sideline inbound passes from the backcourt.

The Nuggets haven’t exactly reached the part of the plan where they’re consistently capitalizing on their transition chances. Their decision-making Sunday got sloppy, and they missed quite a bit at the rim. (The official box score had them at 4-for-10 shooting on fast breaks through three quarters.) Jokic turned it over six times, often experimenting with the sort of ridiculous plays that will make for irresistible highlights if he executes them in the regular season.

Overall, the process is there. Denver generated a fair number of decent looks by running the floor, and if nothing else, preseason games like these provide valuable conditioning workouts — an area where Malone thinks his team needs to make a lot of progress. He ran four of his five starters until the end of the third quarter, resting Jamal Murray after halftime. By the third, defensive breakdowns were becoming an issue, with the Suns blowing by tired Nuggets players.

Porter continues to stand out

Michael Porter Jr. showed up to training camp in excellent physical shape, teammates and coaches have vouched. His preseason has showcased that strength and assertiveness while serving as a reminder of just how special an offensive player he can be.

Within seconds after Jokic won the opening tip, the ball found Porter in the corner, where he drove confidently for a dunk. His off-ball movement throughout the night was excellent, allowing him to score as a cutter or to shoot in rhythm around dribble handoffs. He’s putting the ball on the floor and looking to shoot, but rarely forcing it. And Denver seemed intent on running a lot of plays for him Sunday, including one creative baseline out-of-bounds design in which Porter floated the inbound pass to Aaron Gordon in the lane, ran around a Jokic screen and buried an open 3 off the catch from Gordon.

Porter finished the night with 21 points, matching Jokic for a team-high, on 8-of-13 shooting. Most notably, he was 5 of 7 from inside the arc.

Weirdest lineup award goes to…

In the first quarter, Malone tried out Murray, Russell Westbrook, Julian Strawther, Dario Saric and Jokic together in one of the most peculiar lineups yet. The Nuggets seem interested in trying out Westbrook and Murray in lineups together this season, a combination that resembles what they tried last year with Murray next to Reggie Jackson.

Denver is also messing with creative pick-and-roll variations involving Jokic. On Sunday, those included a four-five pick-and-roll from the left wing, with Saric as the ball-handler — and an inverted one between Jokic and Westbrook out of a timeout, with Westbrook as the screener. That one resulted in an alley-oop from Jokic to his future Hall-of-Fame teammate.

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The Denver Broncos lost to the Los Angeles Chargers 23-16 at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colorado on Sunday, October 13, 2024.

ARLINGTON, Texas — Jared Goff threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns after his completion streak ended on his first throw as the Detroit Lions blew out Dallas 47-9 on Sunday, handing the Cowboys a fourth consecutive lopsided loss at home.

David Montgomery had two rushing TDs for the Lions (4-1), who lost pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson to a serious injury to his lower left leg in the third quarter.

Dak Prescott threw two interceptions in the worst home loss since 1988 for the Cowboys (3-3), who became the first team since at least 2000 to trail by 14 or more points at halftime in four consecutive games on their home field. Dallas is 0-3 at home and 3-0 on the road.

Detroit led 27-6 at the break, putting the combined total of the Dallas halftime deficit at AT&T Stadium at 110-35 going back to a wild-card playoff loss to Green Bay in January.

The current skid followed a 16-game home winning streak that was second-longest in franchise history, and the 167 points allowed by Dallas are the third most in a four-game home stretch in NFL history.

Goff set an NFL single-game record by going 18 of 18 in the Lions’ victory over Seattle before their bye week. Goff’s overall streak of 19 completions — six shy of the league record — ended when he couldn’t connect with running back Jahmyr Gibbs on Detroit’s second offensive play.

On Detroit’s first play, coach Dan Campbell threw some shade at officials who penalized a potential winning 2-point conversion pass in the Lions’ 20-19 loss at the Cowboys last December.

Dan Skipper reported as eligible for a vanilla 5-yard run by Montgomery. He was the tackle officials said reported as eligible when Taylor Decker caught the 2-point pass from Goff nine months ago.

The Lions were certain Decker had declared himself eligible, but it didn’t matter. The loss cost the Lions a shot at the top seed in the NFC, and they lost the conference championship game in San Francisco.

In the third quarter, Decker was again declared eligible on first-and-goal from the 2 and Goff threw to him in the end zone, but the pass was incomplete.

Facing a Dallas defense missing its two pass rushers, including two-time All-Pro Micah Parsons, and a starting linebacker and cornerback, Goff finished 18 of 25 with a perfect passer rating of 153.8.

Sam LaPorta had a 52-yard touchdown catch on a trick play when he was wide open after Goff pitched to Montgomery, who then pitched on a reverse to Amon-Ra St. Brown, who got it back to Goff for the deep throw.

Aidan Hutchinson carted off field against Cowboys

Montgomery’s first score was a twisting grinding 16-yarder to put Detroit up for good at 7-3.

Hutchinson, who entered the game as the NFL sacks leader, was carted off after his leg appeared to snap above the ankle when it collided with the left leg of teammate Alim McNeill as Hutchinson was pulling Prescott down for one of four Detroit sacks.

There was a delay of about 10 minutes as medical personnel tended to Hutchinson while players from both teams made a large circle around the second overall pick in the 2022 draft. Hutchinson entered the game leading the NFL with 6 1/2 sacks.

Prescott was 17 of 33 without a touchdown for a 42.2 passer rating, the second-worst of his career.

Takeaways from Lions’ dominant victory vs. Cowboys: Win marred by Hutchinson injury

Photo gallery from the Lions’ dominating win at Dallas