Shohei Ohtani hit a leadoff homer and scored four times, Mookie Betts also went deep and drove in four runs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Mets 10-2 on Thursday night for a 3-1 lead in their lopsided National League Championship. Series.
Betts had a two-run homer and a two-run double among his four hits. Max Muncy extended his streak of reaching base safely to 12 at-bats, a postseason record, and the Dodgers moved within one win of their 25th pennant – the most in NL history.
Game 5 is Friday at Citi Field, with Jack Flaherty expected to pitch for Los Angeles with a chance to put his hometown team in the World Series.
New York had not committed to a projected starter, but it would likely be Kodai Senga or David Peterson.
Surprise cleanup hitter Tommy Edman had three RBIs, including a tiebreaking double off starter Jose Quintana with two outs in the third inning. Kiké Hernández followed with an RBI single that made it 3-1.
Betts broke the game open, greeting reliever Jose Buttó with a two-run double in the fourth and then right-hander Phil Maton with a two-run homer in the sixth.
Both big hits followed a walk to Ohtani, and Betts gave a huge fist pump between second and third as he rounded the bases on his third homer of these playoffs.
Mark Vientos provided a rare highlight for New York, hitting his fourth postseason homer in the first inning off $325 million rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
But the Mets, who were 14-2 in their last 16 games at Citi Field when they returned home Wednesday, were blown out at home for the second straight night.
New York was outscored 30-9 in the series, including 9-0 in the opener and 8-0 in Game 3.
The latest flop, after a thrilling comeback well into October, silenced a sold-out crowd of 43,882 and left Citi Field eerily quiet in the late innings — and about as empty as it was in April.