Jack Flaherty struggles with the Dodgers' NLCS Game 5 loss to the Mets

Before the sun had even set in Queens on Friday night, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts faced a dilemma.

It was the third inning of Game 5 of the National League Championship Series. His club faced an early, but hardly insurmountable, two-run deficit. And with starting pitcher Jack Flaherty lacking both control and fastball speed, Roberts had three difficult options in front of him.

1. Stick with Flaherty and hope he can settle in.

2. Call in a lower-leverage arm like Brent Honeywell or Landon Knack (or at least let them warm up if things get dire) and hope they can maintain the deficit.

3. Call for a high-leverage reliever immediately and risk wasting valuable balls with a likely bullpen game coming up in Game 6.

When you lack reliable starting pitching in the playoffs, sometimes these are the only options you have.

And just like in Game 2, Roberts chose the conservative route, left Flaherty in the game – and watched in horror at what happened.

In a six-batter sequence, the Mets excelled with a five-run rally, opening a seven-run lead that they built all the way down the stretch for a 12-6 win. In one night, the Dodgers could have finished the NLCS and secured a spot in next week's World Series, but instead they let this best-of-seven return to Los Angeles.

The Dodgers still have a chance to reach the Fall Classic. They lead the series 3-2 and need just one more win and two tries at home to clinch the victory.

Plastic sheeting had been attached to the ceiling of the visiting clubhouse at Citi Field all week. The Dodgers came and went with little celebration.

It was clear from the start of Friday's game that Flaherty lacked skill. In a three-run first inning, his fastball was around 91 mph, well below his season average of 93.3 mph. His command wasn't there either, resulting in two walks in one inning, punctuated by a three-run blast from Pete Alonso.

Despite a leadoff double by Francisco Alvarez in the bottom of the second and two near-homers by Francisco Lindor later in the inning (one that went as a foul, the other that died at the warning line), Flaherty left the team unscathed . Meanwhile, the Dodgers got a runback against Mets starter David Peterson to make it 3-1 in the third.

So Roberts was faced with his fateful decision.

Dodgers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty delivers in the second inning of a 12-6 loss to the New York Mets in Game 5 of the NLCS on Friday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Since the Dodgers acquired Flaherty at the trade deadline, the veteran right-hander has been their de facto — or at least by default — their ace.

That's not what the Dodgers envisioned earlier this season, back when they thought Tyler Glasnow (who suffered a season-ending elbow injury) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who was returning just weeks after a three-month shoulder injury). playoffs) could make their rotation.

But it's still the situation they were in.

So Roberts decided to keep him in the game.

Flaherty scored two quick strikes against Alonso, but then missed the zone four times in a row for a leadoff walk. Four more straight balls to Jesse Winker put another runner on base and brought pitching coach Mark Prior out of the dugout.

Shohei Ohtani reacts after striking out in the fifth inning against the Mets in NLCS Game 5 on Thursday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

In the bullpen, left-hander Anthony Banda was starting to warm up.

Before the Dodgers could get to him, however, the game quickly slipped away from them.

Starling Marte hit a double down the stretch to drive home two runs. Alvarez, Lindor and Brandon Nimmo recorded three more RBIs on two-out hits.

In the middle of it all, Banda sat down again. Instead of being aggressive with his important bullpen, Roberts decided to let Flaherty carry him.

While it was an unpopular decision for some factions of the Dodgers fan base, Roberts didn't act without reason – or more accurately, didn't act.

Similar to Game 2, he prioritized the long-term workload of his bullpen — which will now play a crucial role in whatever remains in this series — over the slim but very realistic chances of his offense pulling out a victory.

The Dodgers haven't completely turned around. Andy Pages hit two home runs in the fourth (a solo shot) and fifth (a three-run blast) to keep the Dodgers within striking distance. Mookie Betts then went wide in the sixth to increase the score to 10-6.

But the Dodgers got no closer and always failed to gain enough comeback traction, as Honeywell gave up four runs in 4⅔ valiant but ineffective innings of relief.