LOS ANGELES -- Clayton Kershaw was out of the game, his head down in the dugout, the Los Angeles bullpen faltering and the season slipping away.Chase Utley plucked the Dodgers from the brink, singling home the tiebreaking run with two outs in the eighth inning.Suddenly, Game 5 was on the horizon.One more chance to pursue the clubs first World Series appearance in 28 years.There is no quit in this team, closer Kenley Jansen said.The Dodgers avoided elimination Tuesday with a 6-5 victory over the Washington Nationals that forced a deciding game in their NL playoff.Jansen worked the ninth for a save, one day after giving up four late runs during Los Angeles loss in Game 3.I got out there and focused and fought, he said.The finale is Thursday in Washington, with 20-game winner Max Scherzer set to pitch for the Nationals.Man, this is going to be a heck of a ballgame, he said. The effort from both sides over the first four games has been incredible. Great pitching, great hitting, defense, everything.Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he will use left-hander Rich Hill and rookie Julio Urias, but did not announce which one will start. Hill is expected to get the ball first.If anyone gives up on this team, they havent seen us play a whole lot this year, Roberts said, and it starts with what Clayton did -- short rest and leaving it all out there. Everyone fed off that.Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run homer for the Dodgers, who turned to Kershaw on three days rest to salvage their season.The score was tied 5-all with two outs in the eighth when Andrew Toles got hit by a pitch from loser Blake Treinen. Ethier followed with a single to left and Utley singled to right, scoring Toles from second for a 6-5 lead.Trailing 5-2 in the seventh, the Nats had runners on first and second against Kershaw with two outs. The crowd chanted Kershaws name as he and Bryce Harper battled through eight pitches before Harper drew a walk.Man, thats what baseball is all about right there -- a matter of will, Nats manager Dusty Baker said. Kershaw was on empty. We knew it. They knew it. Everybody knew it.Harpers walk loaded the bases and chased Kershaw, who walked off with his head down. He sat alone in the dugout with his head resting on his right hand.Kershaw was outstanding, Baker said. Thats one of the best performances Ive seen, especially on three days rest.But the Dodgers bullpen nearly gave the game away.Pedro Baez came in and hit Jayson Werth with his only pitch, forcing in a run to make it 5-3. Baez got booed off the field.Daniel Murphys single off Luis Avilan dropped between Toles and Joc Pederson in left-center field, scoring two runs to tie it at 5. Avilan also heard boos.Joe Blanton, who earned the win, retired Anthony Rendon on a swinging strikeout to end the inning.Our bullpen has been unbelievable, Kershaw said. Joe did what Joes been doing all season. Hes been through a lot in his career but he came in and shut them down.After failing to close out the Dodgers on the road, Washington gets one more chance to win a playoff series for the first time since the franchise relocated from Montreal. NL East champions in three of the past five years, the Nationals were unable to advance during their two previous trips to the postseason.Thats why we fought so hard for the home-field advantage, Baker said. This year, its coming to fruition.Desperate to avoid another early playoff exit, the Dodgers went with Kershaw, their three-time Cy Young Award winner who won Game 1 last Friday despite going just five innings and allowing three runs.This time, he was charged with five runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out 11 -- equaling his second-best postseason total -- and walked two.The left-hander was limited to 149 innings while compiling a 1.69 ERA during the regular season. He missed 2 1/2 months with a mildly herniated disk in his back.Kershaw opened the game by giving up a leadoff single and a walk before Murphys RBI single.The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the inning on Gonzalezs two-run shot that scored Justin Turner, who was hit by a pitch from Joe Ross.Werths RBI single tied it 2-all in the third.Los Angeles again answered in the bottom of the inning, with Kershaw getting the rally going with a double to left field. He slid into second and clenched his fists in a rare show of emotion.Kershaw scored on Turners single with two outs. Pederson got hit by a pitch from Ross with the bases loaded, forcing in TurnerRoss made his postseason debut for the Nationals, giving up four runs and three hits in 2 2/3 innings, equaling the shortest playoff start in the history of the Montreal-Washington franchise. The 23-year-old right-hander struck out three and walked two. He hasnt pitched more than four innings since coming off the disabled list on Sept. 18.LOOK OUT!Five players were hit by pitches, including four Dodgers, which set a single-game franchise playoff record. Of the quartet, two ended up scoring. Werth was the lone Nationals player to get hit.There have been 11 hit batters in the series, a postseason record.No one on either side is trying to hit anybody with everything on the line right now, Scherzer said. Thats just baseball being played at its highest.TRAINERS ROOMNationals RHP Stephen Strasburg experienced discomfort in his right elbow during a bullpen session Monday at Dodger Stadium. He threw 30 or 31 pitches instead of the scheduled 35. Strasburg has been out since tearing the pronator tendon in his elbow on Sept. 7.Baker said Strasburg was throwing the ball very good and hes not concerned about the pitchers progress. Strasburg has said he would try to return this season if the Nationals advance to the NLCS.CANT CLOSE `EM OUTBaker has lost eight consecutive postseason games when his team would have advanced with a victory. Thats the longest such streak in major league history, according to ESPN Stats & Info.ELIMINATION GAMESThe Dodgers improved to 12-15 in postseason elimination games since moving to Los Angeles.Swell Water Bottle Wholesale . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Swell Bottle Resort Collection . The defending champion beat Gael Monfils of France 7-6 (6), 6-3, while second-seeded Andy Murray of Britain dispatched Edouard Roger-Vasselin, also of France, 6-3, 6-3. Making his first appearance since injuring his wrist a month ago, Del Potro had difficulty with his service games in the first set. http://www.swellbottlesclearance.com/swell-bottles-on-sale.html . -- Jimmie Johnson held off a teammate, passed a pair of Hall of Famers, and dominated once more at Dover. Swell Bottles Clearance . You can watch the game live on TSN at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The Flyers had won seven of eight before dropping their last two outings on consecutive days over the weekend. Philadelphia was handed a 6-3 loss by the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon before dropping a 4-1 decision to the Rangers the following night in New York City. Cheap SWell Bottle . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars.WIGGINS, Miss. -- The president of the Mississippi NAACP is demanding a federal hate crime investigation after the parents of a black high school student said as many as four white students put a noose around their sons neck at school.No child should be walking down the hall or in a locker room and be accosted with a noose around their neck, president Derrick Johnson said Monday during a news conference in Wiggins. This is 2016, not 1916. This is America. This is a place where children should go to school and feel safe in their environment.Johnson said the incident happened Oct. 13 near a locker room at Stone High School in Wiggins.Hollis and Stacey Payton, parents of the alleged victim, attended the news conference but did not speak. Their son, a sophomore football player, was not with them and they did not release his name.The NAACP said the incident happened during a break in football practice and that the noose was yanked backward while on the students neck.Johnson would not say whether noose left any marks on the black student. According to a statement from the students family, he returned to football practice after the incident, said Ayana Kinnel, a spokeswoman for the state NAACP.Stone High has about 800 students, about a quarter of whom are black according to state figures. Thats not a particularly high percentage in Mississippi, where half of nearly 500,000 public school students are African-American.Wiggins, 35 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, is a logging town. Many people commute from the 18,000-resident county to jobs in Gulfport and other coastal cities.Mississippi has struggled with a history of racial division. It is the last state that still incorporates the Confederate battle emblem on its state flag. In 2014, two out-of-state students at the University of Mississippi placed a noose on the campus statue of James Meredith, the black student who integrated Ole Miss in 1962. Both pleaded guilty to using a threat of force to intimidate African-American students and employees. Neither attends the school anymore.Names and ages of the other students allegedly involved in the Stone High School incident werent immediately released.The Stone County Sheriffs Department provides officers at local schools and typically is the first to respond to incidents. Sheriffs Capt. Ray Boggs said officials believe something close to what the Paytons described diid happen and said hes still investigating.dddddddddddd He said all the students involved are younger than 17 and he expects any charges would be filed in youth court, where records are closed to the public.Its probably one of the hardest cases Ill ever handle in my career, because of the nature of it, said Boggs, who is black. Have I ever had to deal with something like this? No, not from a high school.Johnson said he wants the teenagers charged as adults. Thats allowable in certain situations for people between ages 13 and 16 in Mississippi. He cited federal prosecutions of young people from Rankin County for hate crimes following the 2011 death of a man run down in the parking lot of Jackson motel as an example of what federal involvement could bring. Most of those people were charged as adults, although there was evidence of at least one unusual federal juvenile prosecution.There is absolutely a role for federal law enforcement, Johnson said.Johnson said Stacey Payton was advised against filing a police report because the father of one of the alleged assailants is a former law enforcement officer. Boggs said he talked to Stacey Payton and thats not true. He said he told her that pursuing criminal charges could result in hard feelings among students that could make her sons life harder at school.Stone High School Principal Adam Stone referred comment to Superintendent Inita Owen. She and school board attorney Sean Courtney didnt respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment. Johnson said the Paytons have received no official word about punishments from school officials. Johnson said school district policy calls for immediate expulsion of students who commit assault.Carissa Bolden of Wiggins, the mother of a middle school student, attended the NAACP news conference Monday and said white students have been flying the Mississippi flag from their vehicles. The upper left corner of the state flag used since 1894 has the Confederate battle emblem -- a red field topped by a blue X with 13 white stars. Bolden said she sees a connection between the flag and the noose incident.I feel like it escalated from them allowing kids to bring Confederate flags to school, Bolden said.----Emily Wagster Pettus reported from Jackson, Mississippi. ' ' '