Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani celebrates his three-run home run against the New York Mets during the eighth inning in Game 3 of a baseball NL Championship Series, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
NEW YORK (AP) – Shohei Ohtani launched a three-run homer for the Los Angeles Dodgers that punctuated their 8-0 victory over the New York Mets in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday night.
Kiké Hernández hit a two-run shot to make it 4-0 in the sixth inning and waved to the Citi Field crowd he quieted. Los Angeles rebounded from a loss at home and grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series by pitching its fourth shutout in the past five playoff games.
Ohtani connected in the eighth, a 410-foot drive that soared into the second deck in right field and barely stayed fair above the foul pole.
Max Muncy went deep in the ninth for his 13th career postseason homer, tying Corey Seager and Justin Turner for the franchise record. Muncy also connected in Game 2.
A fired-up Walker Buehler struck out Francisco Lindor to leave the bases loaded in the second, and the Dodgers got five stingy innings from their hard-throwing bullpen. Buehler combined with four relievers on a four-hitter.
Game 4 is Thursday night in Queens, with $325 million rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto scheduled to start for Los Angeles against veteran left-hander Jose Quintana.
Michael Kopech worked a hitless fifth for the win, and Dodgers pitchers finished with 13 strikeouts.
Mets starter Luis Severino fell behind 2-0 in the second, partly due to some shoddy fielding. He did not permit an earned run but threw 95 pitches and walked four in 4 2/3 innings, taking the loss.
Slumping catcher Will Smith knocked in a run with an infield single, and Tommy Edman had a sacrifice fly that could have been more if not for a sensational catch on the right-center warning track by Tyrone Taylor.
Los Angeles threw consecutive shutouts against San Diego to win their heated Division Series after trailing two games to one. Jack Flaherty and the Dodgers then blanked the Mets 9-0 in the NLCS opener Sunday, extending the team’s scoreless streak to 33 innings ““ matching a postseason record.
The only recent blip for the pitching staff came Monday, when Lindor hit a leadoff homer and the Mets won 7-3 at Chavez Ravine.
Ohtani entered batting .222 with a homer and five RBIs during his first postseason. The $700 million superstar sparked the offense in Game 1 against the Mets, but hadn’t gone deep since hitting a three-run homer early in the Division Series opener.
When he connected on an 0-1 cutter from Tylor Megill in the eighth, Ohtani pointed toward the Dodgers dugout. The ball was initially called fair, a ruling that stood following a replay review.
Dating to the regular season, Ohtani has 17 hits and 27 RBIs in his past 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position, including seven home runs. The leadoff hitter is 0 for 22 this postseason with the bases empty. With runners on, he is 7 for 9 with two homers and eight RBIs.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: 2B Gavin Lux was back in the lineup, batting sixth. Lux missed Game 2 because of a right hip flexor injury that forced him out of the series opener in the seventh inning.
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Yamamoto (7-2, 3.00 ERA) struggled in the Division Series opener against San Diego but then pitched five scoreless innings of two-hit ball to win the deciding Game 5 last Friday. He threw 39 of 63 pitches for strikes.
Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA) has not allowed an earned run over 11 innings in two playoff starts, both no-decisions. Going back to Aug. 25, the 35-year-old Quintana has given up just three earned runs in eight starts spanning 47 1/3 innings.
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