Dodgers walk their way to Game 4 victory over Mets, one win from World Series
NEW YORK — The Dodgers are about to turn the New York Mets into playoff pumpkins.
Mookie Betts had four hits and drove in four runs and Shohei Ohtani scored four times as the Dodgers beat the Mets, 10-2, in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night to move within one win of returning to the World Series.
Up three games to one now, the Dodgers will try to close out the Mets and reach the 22nd World Series in franchise history (the fourth in the past eight years) in Game 5 on Friday at 2 p.m. PT (FS1).
“Obviously it’d be huge (to close out the series on Friday),” infielder Max Muncy said. “But our mindset is it’s a 0-0 series. We’ve got to go out there and play it the right way, do things the right way, and that’s what we’re planning on.”
The Dodgers are set to chase the Mets out of the postseason because they have been unwilling to chase. In the four NLCS games, the Dodgers have drawn 31 walks against Mets pitchers. According to statistician Sarah Langs, that is the most for a four-game span at any point in a postseason.
Twelve of those walks became runs – the Mets have scored a total of only nine runs in the series.
It’s the IRL implementation of the Dodgers’ pre-postseason game-planning sessions where it was emphasized that the most successful teams in the postseason are usually the ones that are most disciplined at the plate.
“There was definitely some talks about it,” Muncy said. “But I think the biggest thing was understanding more in-depth why that is. And it’s being aggressive on balls in the zone. Not taking balls in the zone. And not swinging out of the zone. And I think that’s just a deeper understanding for us, understanding who we are as a team, and what certain pitches we can hit, what pitches we can’t hit. And we’ve had an entire lineup being able to buy into that.”
No one has been more disciplined than Muncy. He walked in each of his first three times up in Game 4 then singled in the seventh inning, extending a streak of reaching base to 12 consecutive plate appearances – eight walks, two singles and two home runs – before he struck out in the eighth inning.
That is a record for a single postseason and ties Reggie Jackson for the overall postseason record. Jackson’s streak of 12 stretched from the 1977 postseason into 1978.
Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a home run – his third homer of the postseason and second of the NLCS and his first hit with nobody on base. Mark Vientos matched that for the Mets in the bottom of the first off Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
But the Dodgers didn’t give in to Mets starter Jose Quintana and started cashing in their free passes in the third inning.
“We knew Quintana – I think he had the lowest percentage in-zone as a starting pitcher. That was what we talked about in the hitters’ meeting,” said All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who sat out Game 4, nursing his injured ankle. “The thing is, when you have plans and you stick to them, most of the time they’re going to work out.
“We had a plan tonight: Don’t give in to the nibble with Quintana. Make him keep the ball over the plate, and they did a great job.”
After his first-inning home run, Ohtani didn’t get much to hit and didn’t force the issue. He walked in his next three times up and came around to score each time.
“There was a stretch there for, like, two or three at-bats I don’t think he even saw a pitch remotely close, which I understand,” Betts said. “But it’s going to be tough to just walk him all the time.
“We’ll see. If they want to continue to do it, that’s okay. I just need to make sure I take care of my job and the guys behind us.”
Betts did his job Thursday. He and Ohtani were on base eight times and scored seven runs.
“I think he took it the same way (Mark) Vientos took it – personal,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Betts watching the Mets’ cautious approach to Ohtani. “That’s okay. And I think that he understands that whether it’s a manager putting four fingers up or you’re throwing intentional balls two feet outside, you’re going to go after the next guy.
“So I think that Mookie takes it personal like all competitors should. And I do think that stuff lights a little fire under him.”
The first of Ohtani’s walks came in the third inning. Betts followed with a single. Tommy Edman drove Ohtani in with a double and Kiké Hernandez sent Betts home with an infield single, shortstop Francisco Lindor smothering the ground ball to save another run.
The Dodgers were back at it in the fourth inning. Chris Taylor beat out an infield single and Ohtani walked again to put two runners on with one out for Betts. He lashed a double into the left-field corner, strutting as he reached second base and two runs scored for the Dodgers.
Two innings later, Ohtani walked again and scored his fourth run of the game when Betts launched a hanging slider from Mets reliever Phil Maton into the left field seats.
That put the Dodgers ahead 7-2 with rested high-leverage relievers to close it out.
But things got dicey for the Dodgers in the sixth.
Evan Phillips (pitching for the first time since Game 5 of the NL Division Series) got the final two outs of the fifth inning in relief of Yamamoto. When he went back out for the sixth, he gave up back-to-back singles and walked J.D. Martinez to load the bases with no outs.
Phillips started to back away from the stove by striking out Jose Iglesias. He got Jeff McNeil to line out to center field, shallow enough for the runners to hold. Blake Treinen came in and finished it off, stranding all three runners when Jesse Winker lined out to right.
The Dodgers took the leverage from high to low with a three-run eighth inning highlighted by a two-run double from Edman.
“You’ve got to give them credit because that’s a really good lineup and they can do a lot of different things,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “This is a team that controls the strike zone as well as anybody in the league. Not only do they do that, but when they force you in the zone they can do some damage. And they’ve done that. They did it again today. They controlled the strike zone. They forced Quintana to come in on the strike zone. And when he did, they made him pay.”