LOS ANGELES — You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
The buzzing of doubt was thick around Shohei Ohtani after a 1-for-18 National League Division Series and a 2-for-11 start to the NL Championship Series, enough to make Ohtani sound a little annoyed by the tone of the questions at a press conference on Wednesday.
He swatted those doubts away Friday as only he can.
Making his first pitching start since Game 1 of the NL Division Series, Ohtani struck out the side in the top of the first inning then led off the bottom of the first by slamming a 446-foot home run. He didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning, hit a second home run even farther, added a third home run and struck out 10 while taking a shutout into the seventh inning as the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1, on Thursday night, completing a sweep of the NLCS.
If Ohtani’s 6-for-6, three-home run night to create the 50/50 club last year might have been the greatest offensive game ever, Thursday’s two-way domination has to be considered for status as the greatest postseason performance.
With it, the Dodgers are going to the World Series for the fifth time in the past nine years, the Brewers having offered minimal resistance in the NLCS. The Dodgers are the first defending champion to make it back to the World Series since the Philadelphia Phillies won it all in 2008 then lost to the New York Yankees in the 2009 World Series.
The Dodgers will try to become the first team to win consecutive World Series titles since the Yankees in 1998-2000 when this year’s Series starts next Friday – in Toronto if the Blue Jays win the American League pennant, or in Los Angeles if the Seattle Mariners do.
It will be the Dodgers’ 23rd trip to the World Series. Only the Yankees have been there more often (41 times).
They arrive at a World Series appearance that seemed to be fore-ordained by their $400 million payroll and accumulation of talent with as much momentum as ever. They have won nine of 10 postseason games and 24 of their past 30 overall.
The six-day layoff before Game 1 of the World Series figures to provide more of a challenge to that momentum than the Brewers did despite their status as MLB’s winningest team during the regular season. Dodgers pitching held the Brewers to four runs on 14 hits in the four-game sweep.
Ohtani walked Brice Turang to start the game, luring the Brewers into believing he might be human. He struck out the next three to sew doubt and didn’t give up a hit until Jackson Chourio led off the fourth inning with a ground-rule double.
Ohtani took care of that threat with a ground out and two more strikeouts. He walked the first batter in the seventh inning and gave up a single, ending his night on the mound at 100 pitches with no runs, only two hits and three walks allowed.
His first home run was part of a three-run first inning for the Dodgers. Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Tommy Edman had singles to produce one run and another scored on Teoscar Hernandez’s slow roller to first.
Lightning struck again with two outs in the fourth when Brewers reliever Chad Patrick fell behind, 3-and-1, to Ohtani. He threw a cutter that was actually off the plate inside. It was nearly hit off the planet.
Ohtani crushed it sending it over the pavilion roof in right field, an estimated 469 feet (which didn’t see to do it justice). The ball left his bat at 116.9 mph, topping the 116.5 mph of his first home run and leaving teammates in the dugout throwing their arms to the sky in amazement. The ball bounced off the pavilion roof and into a bush near some tables where startled fans were eating.
In the seventh inning, Ohtani made it a threesome, sending a 99-mph fastball from Trevor Megill out to left center. The three home runs covered 1,342 feet –a little over a quarter-mile. A pitcher had hit three home runs in a game (any game, regular or postseason) just once before — Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves in May 1932.
Related Articles
NLCS Game 4: Dodgers vs. Brewers, lineups, starting pitchers, TV info Alexander: The Dodgers’ juggernaut rolls on Swanson: Dodgers aren’t only big spenders, they’re smart Tyler Glasnow survives early challenge to give Dodgers another strong start in NLCS Dodgers’ bullpen delivers against Brewers for 3-0 lead in NLCSHence then, the article about shohei ohtani has epic night as dodgers sweep brewers return to world series was published today ( ) and is available on Los Angeles Daily News ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Shohei Ohtani has epic night as Dodgers sweep Brewers, return to World Series )
Also on site :