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shohei ohtani Hit three home runs and pitched a shutout in the seventh inning. los angeles dodgers A wonderful program was presented on Friday night game 4 of the National League Championship Series.
With 10 strikeouts on the mound and three homers that traveled a total of 1,342 feet at the plate, Ohtani made history in both of his dual appearances for the defending champion Dodgers, who are attempting to return to the World Series by completing a four-game sweep. 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 to do so for the Dodgers since Chris Taylor in October 2021. Kiké Hernández also accomplished the feat for the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS.
With his dramatics at the plate, Ohtani dominated Milwaukee batters during his second pitching start in the postseason. He allowed only two hits and walked off the field after the Brewers’ first two batters reached seventh base, shaking the stadium, but reliever Alex Vescia escaped the jam to preserve the Dodgers’ 4–0 lead.
Ohtani quickly recovered from his postseason slump to hit a 446-foot shot to right field off Brewers starter Jose Quintana, the first leadoff homer hit by a pitcher in any major league game. Ohtani became the first pitcher to record three strikeouts and a homer in a single inning in the postseason, and the first pitcher to do so in any game since Huáscar Ynoia for Atlanta in 2021 – before the National League permanently adopted the designated hitter.
Ohtani hit a 469-foot shot on Chad Patrick’s low inside cutter in the fourth. The ball appeared to clear the roof of the pavilion above the right-center bleachers at Dodger Stadium after leaving his bat at a speed of 116.9 mph.
This made Ohtani the first Dodgers player to have two multihomer games in a postseason.
Ohtani, who had not homered since hitting twice los angeles‘ playoff opener against Cincinnati, becoming the first Dodgers player with two multihomer games in a postseason. He became the first player with two homers with an exit velocity of 116 mph or higher in a regular season or postseason game since Statcast began tracking in 2015.
Ohtani was equally impressive on the mound.
The three-time MVP issued a leadoff walk to Bryce Turang in the first, but struck out Jackson Chouriou, Christian Yelich and William Contreras with a mixture of 100 mph fastballs and dangerous breaking pitches.
Chourio doubled to lead off the fourth for Milwaukee’s first hit, but Ohtani stopped him with a groundout and two strikeouts. Ohtani got two more strikeouts in the fifth, earning another standing ovation from the field.
Yelich drew a walk in the seventh before Contreras followed Ohtani with a single on his 100th pitch.
Before his first homer, Ohtani had not contributed much with his bat for the Dodgers during an impressive playoff run to the brink of another World Series.
The team still felt that Ohtani would take advantage of the opportunity to do something special.
Manager Dave Roberts said several hours before Game 4, “I think this is his opportunity to make his mark on this series, and so we’re going to see his best effort.” “I feel good that he’s pitching for us, and there’s going to be some serious focus and competition tonight.”
Ohtani’s first homer was undoubtedly a shot, and he paused at the plate to admire it. His second leadoff homer of the postseason ended his eight-game homer drought after hitting two in the Wild Card Series opener against Cincinnati.
His second homer was even more surprising, and the screams of disbelief from the Chávez Ravine crowd emphasized the historic nature of the night. He drew a walk in the second innings also.
Before Game 4, Ohtani was on a 6-for-38 drought as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter in the postseason. The fearsome slugger, who finished third in the majors with a franchise-record 55 homers during the regular season, had not connected since September 30.
Although Ohtani tripled and scored in the first inning of Game 3 against Milwaukee, it was his only extra-base hit in the last eight games – and only one of his six postseason RBIs came in the last 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 be ready for both jobs, Ohtani probably wouldn’t blame his plate struggles on his pitching responsibilities. In fact, due to the Dodgers’ schedule changes, he had appeared in only two games in the last 30 days before Game 4.
In his last regular season start, Ohtani pitched six scoreless innings of five-hit ball against Arizona on September 23, throwing a season-high 91 pitches. In his MLB postseason mound debut on October 4, he gave up three runs in six innings with nine strikeouts to earn the win in Los Angeles’ 5–3 victory at Philadelphia in the Division Series opener.
Ohtani was also motivated to emulate his fellow Dodgers starters, who have been performing brilliantly since the playoff race got serious.
The Dodgers’ rotation held bats to an MLB record-low .173 average for a month in September. Since the postseason began, Los Angeles’ four starting pitchers – Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani – had allowed only 10 earned runs while pitching 58 1/3 innings with 71 strikeouts in those nine games.
What’s more, only three Brewers had faced Ohtani on the mound going into Game 4.
“It’s always a little advantageous for the pitcher when they haven’t seen you before,” said Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy. “But they’ve played 170 games. They understand you’re not facing the shohei, you’re facing the ball.”
Roberts said rookie Sasaki was available out of the bullpen in Game 4, which would be his first back-to-back appearances since the rookie rejoined the Dodgers’ roster as a reliever.
Sasaki has mostly excelled since becoming the Dodgers’ real closer, picking up three saves while allowing only two hits and one run in seven innings of relief in six playoff games.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB