Shohei Ohtani finally arrived. After struggling throughout the postseason, Ohtani carried the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, securing the sweep and sending the Dodgers to their second consecutive World Series.
Ohtani, who was making his first start on the mound in the NLCS, walked the leadoff hitter, but after that, he settled in quickly and struck out the next three hitters. He then went to the plate as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter, and put them up 1-0 by crushing a baseball 446 feet at 116.5 mph.
The Dodgers’ offense continued to put stress on the Brewers as Mookie Betts and Will Smith followed with singles. Tommy Edman added an RBI-single to make it 2-0, and Teoscar Hernández capped off the first inning by driving in another run with a ground out.
Now with a 3-0 lead, Ohtani cruised through the next few innings, and only allowing two baserunners until the seventh inning while adding seven more strikeouts in that stretch.
Ohtani went back out on the mound for the seventh inning, but allowed a walk and single before Alex Vesia entered. Vesia forced a pop out, and then a double play to end the inning.
On the mound, Ohtani finished his outing by going 6+ innings, allowing no runs on just two hits with 10 strikeouts to three walks.
In addition to his leadoff homer, Ohtani blasted his second of the game in the fourth inning, and this time the ball traveled even further, traveling 469 feet at 116.9 mph and nearly leaving the right field pavilion.
And if his two home run game wasn’t good enough, Ohtani crushed a third home in the seventh inning, but this time the baseball only traveled 427 feet with a 113.6 mph exit velocity.
Ohtani became the 11th player in MLB history to hit three home runs in the postseason. None of the previous 10 also pitched. And unsurprisingly, he became the first ever player to hit three home runs in a game while also striking out 10.
Blake Treinen took over in the eight, but allowed a double and walk before recording a strikeout. After that, Anthony Banda got Brice Turang to ground into a force out, but the Dodgers were unable to turn the double play, allowing a run to score, but Banda went on to strand two runners.
Roki Sasaki entered in the ninth and allowed a leadoff single, but retired the next three hitters to close it out.
Dodgers advance to second consecutive World Series
For the second consecutive season and the fifth time in the last nine years, the Dodgers are once again the National League champions and will head to the World Series. The Dodgers last advanced to consecutive World Series in 2017 and 2018, but lost both of those, so they are hoping to change their fortunes this time around after winning in 2024.
The Dodgers will face either the Seattle Mariners at home, or the Toronto Blue Jays on the road on Oct. 24, depending on the American League Championship Series. The Mariners currently hold a 3-2 series lead over the Blue Jays as they head to Toronto for Game 6.
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