Shohei Ohtani scores as Dodgers beat Mets 8-0 for 2-1 lead in NLCS

NEW YORK – By the time Shohei Ohtani entered the game in the eighth inning Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Dodgers were already in control.

Once the ball left his stick, Game 3 of the National League Championship Series was over.

Ohtani launched a three-run homer and the Dodgers pulled away for an 8-0 victory over the New York Mets, giving them a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Kiké Hernández hit a two-run shot to make it 4-0 in the sixth with his 15th career postseason homer and greeted the Citi Field crowd as he calmed down. Los Angeles bounced back from a home loss with its fourth shutout in the last five playoff games.

“These guys are locked in. And they understand they have a job to do to prevent runs,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And I think we play good defense, too.”

Game 4 is Thursday night in Queens, with $325 million rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto expected to start for Los Angeles against veteran southpaw Jose Quintana.

Ohtani connected for a towering 410-foot drive that flew toward the second deck in right field. He leaned slightly at home plate as he watched the ball stay just barely above the foul pole.

Max Muncy went deep in the ninth for his 13th career postseason home run, tying Corey Seager and Justin Turner for the franchise record. Muncy also connected in Game 2.

“It’s definitely a blessing. I can’t be grateful enough to have had the opportunity to play enough games to be able to put up those numbers,” he said. “Grateful to be able to be a part of a team and an organization that competes to the playoffs every year.”

Dodgers starter Walker Buehler struck out Francisco Lindor on a complete strike to leave the bases loaded in the second.

Yelled a fired-up Buehler as he walked off the mound, then back toward Lindor.

“It was the field of the game,” Roberts said. “Obviously, the public was into it. They were gaining momentum. Getting the ball down below the zone and getting a great hitter out was huge. And I think that kind of speaks to the experience.

The No. 9 hitter, Francisco Alvarez, deployed just before Lindor and fell looking up all three times. New York stranded six runners in the first three innings against Buehler when the game was still close.

“Walker, he’s a different animal in the playoffs. I don’t care about his numbers in the regular season, especially this year after the second Tommy John (surgery),” Muncy said. “We all knew that once we got into this, he was going to be Walker Buehler, and he definitely was that tonight.”

Winless since May 18 during an injury-plagued season, Buehler made his 17th career playoff start. He struck out six in four innings on three-hit ball after failing to sniff out a single batter in its Division Series loss to San Diego.

“Being in big games, that’s literally all I care about,” said Buehler, who abandoned his windup early in the game and began working exclusively out of sequence because he couldn’t feel his right foot cold on a hard mound.

“It’s definitely a big win for us. But if we don’t do anything about it, it doesn’t really matter. »

Buehler combined with four relievers on four batters as the Dodgers got five stingy innings from their bullpen.

“This guy has proven year after year that when there’s a big game and the Dodgers need a win, he’s the right guy to be on the mound,” Hernández said.

Michael Kopech pitched a no-hitter fifth for the win, and the Dodgers pitchers finished with 13 strikeouts.

Mets starter Luis Severino fell behind 2-0 in the second half, in part due to poor fielding. He didn’t allow 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 might have been more if not for a sensational catch on Tyrone Taylor’s right-center warning track.

Los Angeles threw back-to-back shutouts against San Diego to win their hot division series after trailing two games to one. Jack Flaherty and the Dodgers then blanked the Mets 9-0 in the NLCS opener on Sunday, extending the team’s scoreless streak to 33 innings, matching a postseason record.

The only recent incident 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 home run and five RBIs in his first postseason. The $700 million superstar sparked the offense in Game 1 against the Mets, but hasn’t gone any further since hitting a three-run homer early in Game 1 of the Division Series.

“It’s definitely important for Shohei to build some confidence,” Roberts said.

When he connected on an 0-1 cutter from Tylor Megill in the eighth, Ohtani pointed toward the Dodgers dugout. The ball was initially ruled fair, a decision that stood after replay review.

“I just threw it in his honey hole and he threw it on the upper deck,” Megill said.

Since the regular season, Ohtani has 17 hits and 27 RBIs in his last 20 at-bats with runners in scoring position, including seven home runs. The leadoff batter is 0 for 22 this postseason with the bases empty. With runners on, he is 7-for-9 with two homers and eight RBIs.

Los Angeles improved to 4-0 at Citi Field this year, outscoring New York 26-5. That includes a three-game sweep in late May that dropped the Mets to 22-33 and marked the low point of their roller coaster season.

“I like the fact that we have guys on base. I just haven’t been able to have a big hit,” New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. “As long as we keep creating traffic, someone will come and get us that big traffic.”

TRAINERS ROOM

Dodgers: 2B Gavin Lux was back in the lineup, at number six. Lux missed Game 2 with a right hip flexor injury that forced him to leave the series opener in the seventh inning.

FOLLOWING

Yamamoto (7-2, 3.00 ERA) struggled in the Division Series opener against San Diego, but then pitched five scoreless innings with two hits to win the deciding Game 5 last Friday. He threw 39 of 63 pitches for strikes.

Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA) hasn’t allowed an earned run in 11 innings in two postseason starts, both in a no-decision. Going back to Aug. 25, Quintana, 35, has allowed just three earned runs in eight starts spanning 47 1/3 innings.

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