One more win for the Dodgers and they send Grimace back to McDonalds for the winter. The Dodgers destroyed the Mets again in game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday night at Citi Field. The boys in blue got a dominant pitching performance from starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodger bats scored 10 runs, highlighted by a lead-off home run from Shohei Ohtani. Mookie Betts was 4 for 6 with a two-run home run in the sixth and a two-run double in the fourth. The Dodger bullpen fired 5.2 scoreless innings again and the Dodgers are knocking on the doorstep of clinching the National League pennant.
Yamamoto tossed 4.1 innings allowing just two earned runs on three hits and striking out eighth. He was strong early, dominating the strike zone and getting a bunch of swing and misses. His only real mistake was a first inning home run to Mark Vientos that tied the game. In the top of the third after a walk to Ohtani, and a single from Mookie, Tommy Edman’s double scored Ohtani to give them a 2-1 lead. Enrique Hernandez’s ground ball single to the hole at short bounced off of Francisco Lindor’s glove to score Mookie. The Dodgers went ahead 3-1.
SHO ‘EM, 17! pic.twitter.com/0Zv1q3FQ61
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 18, 2024
Tommy for the lead! pic.twitter.com/XHOJGxtYmf
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 18, 2024
Yamamoto had to navigate out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the third. Consecutive singles from Francisco Alvarez and Lindor followed by a clutch strikeout of Vientos, and then a walk to Pete Alonso put the Dodgers in some trouble. Yamamoto made pitches when he had too. He got a Taylor made double play ball from Brandon Nimmo (playing with Plantar fasciitis) but Nimmo beat the throw at first. That scored a run, but Yamamoto immediately got Marte to ground out and the Dodgers escaped with a 3-2 lead.
The Dodgers started pulling away in the top of the fourth. A Chris Taylor single, and another walk to Ohtani setup a two-run double from Mookie to give the Dodgers a 5-2 lead. The game felt over at that point. Mookie then added a two-run homer in the top of the sixth to give the Dodgers a 7-2 lead. The Mets had the bases loaded again in the bottom of the sixth with nobody out but the Dodgers got out of it again. Evan Phillips struck out Jose Iglesias. Blake Treinen came in and got Jeff McNeil and Jesse Winker to fly out to preserve the Dodger lead. The Mets got nothing. The Mets were 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base. In comparison the Dodgers were 6 for 15 with runners in scoring position. The Mets pitching staff issued nine walks to the Dodgers and it seems like they’ve walked hundreds of Dodger hitters in this series. The Dodgers wore down New York hurlers, working counts and wearing down opposing starter Jose Quintana. The Dodgers had four extra-base hits and scored ten runs on twelve hits. With the 10-2 win the Dodgers take a commanding 3-1 series lead in the NLCS.
LIKE WE SAID, 50’S FEELING GOOD. pic.twitter.com/T1C2qvws7Y
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 18, 2024
The Dodgers look to end the series and return to the World Series for the first time since 2020. Game 5’s pitching matchup will feature a bullpen game for the Mets. The Dodgers will send Jack Flaherty to the mound hoping to end the series and give the Dodgers their thirteenth National Pennant since they moved to Los Angeles in 1958.
