LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs and pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night, putting on a spectacular show in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
With 10 strikeouts on the mound and three homers that traveled a combined 1,342 feet at the plate, Ohtani made history in both of his dual roles for the defending champion Dodgers, who are attempting to return to the World Series by completing a four-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers.
After striking out three Brewers in the top of the first, Ohtani hit the first leadoff homer by a pitcher in major league history. He hit a second titanic drive in the fourth and launched a third solo homer in the seventh.
The three-time MVP became the 12th player to hit three homers in a postseason game and the first since Chris Taylor did it for the Dodgers in October 2021. Kiké Hernández also accomplished the feat for the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS.
Along with his theatrics at the plate, Ohtani dominated Milwaukee batters during his second postseason pitching start. He allowed only two hits and walked off the mound to a stadium-shaking ovation after the Brewers’ first two batters reached base in the seventh, but reliever Alex Vesia escaped the jam to keep the Dodgers’ 4-0 lead intact.
Ohtani quickly broke out of his postseason hitting slump with a 446-foot shot to right field off Brewers starter Jose Quintana for the first leadoff homer hit by a pitcher in any big league game. Ohtani became the first pitcher to record three strikeouts and a homer in the same inning in the postseason, and the first to do it in any game since Huascar Ynoa for Atlanta in 2021 — before the National League permanently adopted the designated hitter.
Ohtani followed with a 469-foot shot off a low, inside cutter from Chad Patrick in the fourth. The ball appeared to clear the pavilion roof above the right-center bleachers at Dodger Stadium after leaving his bat at 116.9 mph.
That made Ohtani the first Dodgers player with two multihomer games in one postseason.
Ohtani, who hadn’t homered since hitting two in Los Angeles’ playoff opener against Cincinnati, is the first Dodgers player with two multihomer games in one postseason. He also became the first player with two homers in a regular-season or postseason game with 116 mph or higher exit velocity since Statcast started tracking in 2015.
Ohtani was just as impressive on the mound.
The three-time MVP issued a leadoff walk to Brice Turang in the first, but struck out Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and William Contreras with a mix of 100 mph fastballs and vicious breaking pitches.
Chourio doubled leading off the fourth for Milwaukee’s first hit, but Ohtani stranded him with a groundout and two strikeouts. Ohtani got two more strikeouts in the fifth, leaving the mound to yet another standing ovation.
Yelich drew a walk in the seventh before Contreras chased Ohtani with a single on his 100th pitch.
Before his first homer, Ohtani hadn’t contributed much to the Dodgers with his bat during to the brink of another World Series.
The team still had a feeling Ohtani would seize the opportunity to do something special.
“I think this is his opportunity to make his mark on this series, and so we’re going to see his best effort,” manager Dave Roberts said several hours before Game 4. “I feel good that he’s pitching for us, and there’s going to be some serious focus and compete tonight.”
Ohtani’s first homer was a no-doubt shot, and he paused briefly at the plate to admire it. His second leadoff homer of the postseason ended his eight-game drought since he hit two in the Wild Card Series opener against Cincinnati.
His second homer was even more astounding, and the screams of disblief from the Chavez Ravine crowd emphasized the historic nature of the night. He also drew a walk in the second inning.
Before Game 4, Ohtani was in a 6-for-38 drought as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter in the postseason. The fearsome slugger who was third in the majors with a franchise-record 55 homers during the regular season hadn’t connected since Sept. 30.
Although Ohtani tripled and scored in the first inning of Game 3 against Milwaukee, that was his only extra-base hit in the last eight games — and just one of his six postseason RBIs came in the past five games.
Ohtani went 2 for 11 with three walks in his first three games against the Brewers.
While his two-way role requires him to do extensive off-field work to stay ready for both jobs, Ohtani probably wouldn’t blame his plate struggles on his pitching responsibilities. In fact, he had pitched in only two games over the past 30 days before Game 4, thanks to the permutations of the Dodgers’ schedule.
In his last regular-season start, Ohtani pitched against Arizona on Sept. 23, throwing a season-high 91 pitches. In his MLB postseason mound debut Oct. 4, he gave up three runs over six innings with nine strikeouts in Los Angeles’ 5-3 win at Philadelphia in the Division Series opener.
Ohtani also had the motivation of matching his fellow Dodgers starters, who have been phenomenal on the mound ever since the playoff race got serious.
The Dodgers’ rotation held batters in September to an MLB record-low .173 average for a single month. Since the postseason began, Los Angeles’ four starting pitchers — Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani — had allowed just 10 earned runs while pitching 58 1/3 innings with 71 strikeouts over those nine games.
What’s more, only three Brewers had ever faced Ohtani on the mound heading into Game 4.
“It’s always a little advantage (to the) pitcher when they haven’t seen you before,” Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said. “But they’re 170 games in. They understand that you’re not facing Shohei, you’re facing the ball.”
Roberts said Roki Sasaki was available out of the bullpen in Game 4 for what would be his first back-to-back appearances since the rookie rejoined the Dodgers’ roster as a reliever.
Sasaki has been mostly outstanding since he became the Dodgers’ de facto closer, picking up three saves while allowing just two hits and one run in seven innings of relief across six playoff games.
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