By the time Shohei Ohtani came to bat in the eighth inning on Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers had a solid lead.
As soon as he hit the ball, Game 3 of the National League Championship Series was finished.
Ohtani hit a three-run homer, helping the Dodgers secure an 8-0 win against the struggling New York Mets, giving them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Kiké Hernández added a two-run home run in the sixth inning, making the score 4-0, and he waved to the quieted Citi Field crowd. Los Angeles bounced back from a previous loss at home and recorded their fourth shutout in the last five playoff games.
“These guys are focused and know their job is to stop runs,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think we’re playing good defense too.”
Game 4 is scheduled for Thursday night in Queens, with $325 million rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto set to pitch for Los Angeles against veteran lefty Jose Quintana.
Ohtani hit a high drive that went 410 feet into the second deck in right field. He leaned slightly at home plate, watching as the ball barely stayed fair above the foul pole.
Max Muncy hit a home run in the ninth inning, marking his 13th career postseason homer, which ties him with Corey Seager and Justin Turner for the franchise record. Muncy had also homered in Game 2.
“It’s definitely a blessing. I can’t thank enough for the chance to play enough games to reach these numbers,” he said. “I’m grateful to be part of a team and organization that makes the postseason every year.”
Dodgers starter Walker Buehler struck out Francisco Lindor with a full-count knuckle curve to escape a bases-loaded situation in the second inning.
A pumped-up Buehler shouted as he left the mound and directed more energy at Lindor.
“That was the pitch of the game,” Roberts said. “The crowd was into it, and they were gaining momentum. Getting a great hitter out with that breaking ball was huge, and it shows his experience.”
No. 9 batter Francisco Alvarez struck out right before Lindor, and he went down looking all three times he came up to bat. New York left six runners on base in the first three innings against Buehler when the game was still competitive.
“Walker, he’s a different animal in the postseason. I don’t care what his regular-season numbers are, especially this year coming off the second Tommy John surgery,” Muncy said. “We all knew once we got into this setting he was going to be Walker Buehler, and he was definitely that tonight.”
Buehler, who hasn’t won since May 18 due to injuries, made his 17th career postseason start. He struck out six batters in four innings while allowing just three hits, after not striking out anyone in his Division Series loss to San Diego.
“Being in big games, that’s literally all I care about,” said Buehler, who changed his pitching style early in the game and worked only from the stretch because he couldn’t feel his cold right foot on the hard mound.
“This is definitely a big momentum win for us. But if we don’t do something with it, then it doesn’t really matter a whole lot.”
Buehler teamed up with four relievers to allow only four hits as the Dodgers got five strong innings from their hard-throwing bullpen.
“This guy has proven year after year that when there’s a big game and the Dodgers need a win, he’s the right guy to be on the mound,” Hernández said.
Michael Kopech pitched a hitless fifth inning for the win, and Dodgers pitchers finished with 13 strikeouts.
Mets starter Luis Severino fell behind 2-0 in the second inning, partly due to some poor fielding. He didn’t allow an earned run but threw 95 pitches and walked four batters in 4 2/3 innings, resulting in the loss.
Slumping catcher Will Smith drove in a run with an infield single, and Tommy Edman had a sacrifice fly that could have been more if not for an impressive catch on the right-center warning track by Tyrone Taylor.
Los Angeles had back-to-back shutouts against San Diego to win their intense Division Series after being down two games to one. Jack Flaherty and the Dodgers then shut out the Mets 9-0 in the NLCS opener on Sunday, extending the team’s scoreless streak to 33 innings, matching a postseason record.
The only recent blip for the pitching staff came on Monday, when Lindor hit a leadoff homer and the Mets won 7-3 at Chavez Ravine.
Ohtani came into the postseason with a batting average of .222, one home run, and five RBIs. The $700 million superstar energized the offense in Game 1 against the Mets, but hadn’t hit a home run since his three-run shot in the Division Series opener.
“It’s important for Shohei, certainly, to build some confidence,” Roberts said.
When he hit an 0-1 cutter from Tylor Megill in the eighth inning, Ohtani pointed toward the Dodgers’ dugout. The ball was first called fair, and that decision was confirmed after a replay review.
“I just threw it into his honey hole and he launched it into the upper deck,” Megill said.
Going back to the regular season, Ohtani has 17 hits and 27 RBIs in his last 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position, including seven home runs. However, as a leadoff hitter, he is 0 for 22 this postseason when the bases are empty. With runners on base, he has 7 hits in 9 at-bats, two homers, and eight RBIs.
Los Angeles improved to 4-0 at Citi Field this year, outscoring New York 26-5. This includes a three-game sweep in late May that brought the Mets to 22-33, marking the lowest point of their up-and-down season.
“I like the fact that we are getting guys on base. Just haven’t been able to come up with a big hit,” New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. “As long as we continue to create traffic, somebody’s going to come up and get that big one for us.”
