Yasmani Grandal, Joc Pederson, Kiké Hernandez all start for Dodgers in Game 5

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers will start Yasmani Grandal at catcher, Joc Pederson in center field and Kiké Hernandez in left field against the Mets in Game 5 of their National League Division Series on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

Grandal caught Zack Greinke in Game 2, and delivered a two-run single in Game 3 in New York. But he also grimaced on a swing on Monday night, and on Wednesday manager Don Mattingly estimated Grandal's chances of playing on Thursday at 50 percent.

With that two-run single, Grandal is 1-for-8 in the series and has five hits in his last 92 at-bats, dating back to Aug. 9 in Pittsburgh, the road trip during which Grandal first hurt his shoulder.

"Yas came in yesterday and felt a lot better. We planned on playing him today. He and Zack work really well together," manager Don Mattingly said. "Our main reason is that Zack's really comfortable, and that's the main thing today.

"Zack would be comfortable either way, if Yasmani couldn't lift his arm or something. But this is the same exact guy we played him against last time. [deGrom] is tough on the righties for the most part, but Yas had a couple good swings against him."

The injury affects Grandal more while hitting, but he is still valued as a receiver and pitch framer behind the plate. This is the 28th time in 34 starts he will have caught Greinke this season.

The Dodgers are starting Pederson again in center field, as they did in Game 1 against deGrom, but are also playing Hernandez, with Carl Crawford the casualty benched from left field.

Hernandez started five games in left field during the season, one of six different positions he started for the Dodgers in 2015. The rest of the cast of characters for the Dodgers remain the same from Game 1, though with Corey Seager batting second instead of third.

Seager is 2-for-12 with a double and a walk in the NLDS.