Shohei Ohtani homers to lead off NLCS Game 4 for Dodgers against Mets

NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani homered against Jose Quintana leading off Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night, putting the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the New York Mets.

Ohtani took Quintana’s first pitch for a ball, then drove a sinker over the middle of the plate 422 feet into the Mets’ bullpen in right-center field for his third postseason homer.

This one gave Ohtani home runs on consecutive swings, after his three-run shot off Tylor Megill in the eighth inning of the Dodgers’ 8-0 win Wednesday night helped give Los Angeles a 2-1 series lead.

The likely NL MVP began the night 0 for 22 in the postseason when batting with nobody on base and 7 for 9 with two homers and eight RBIs when hitting with runners aboard.

It was the seventh leadoff homer in Dodgers postseason history. The 117.8 mph drive was the third-hardest-hit postseason home run since Statcast started tracking in 2015, after Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber in last year’s NLCS (119.7 mph) and the New York Yankees’ Giancarlo Stanton in a 2020 AL Division Series (118.3 mph).

Quintana hadn’t allowed a home run in his previous eight starts since Aug. 20.

Mets star Francisco Lindor, who hit a leadoff homer in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, was unable to match Ohtani in the bottom of the first as he grounded out.

But the next New York batter, Mark Vientos, connected off Yoshinobu Yamamoto for his fourth homer of the playoffs to tie the score 1-all.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb