The Mets fell behind early and lost 10-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the NLCS on Thursday night at Citi Field. They are now down 3-1 in the series and will be facing an elimination game on their home field Friday.
Here are some takeaways...
- Shohei Ohtani led off the game with a monster home run, and though the Mets would tie it at 1-1 on a Mark Vientos home run, it was an ominous start that proved to a sign of another tough night against what appears to be the best team in baseball.
The Mets had their chances offensively, but as has been the case for most of the series, they couldn’t come through with a clutch hit when they needed it. In four different innings, they put multiple runners on base but scored only one run out of all those opportunities, as they went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
- Forecasts of the Dodgers being a bad matchup for Quintana proved correct. He needs hitters to chase to be effective and LA’s lineup is one of the best in the majors at not chasing pitches out of the strike zone.
And Quintana was pitching carefully, especially after Ohtani ambushed him in the first at-bat of the game, hitting a monster home run of 422 feet to right-center. From there it was a matter of the southpaw being a little too fine, paying for four walks and getting hit hard when he came into the zone. It added up to a poor start, as he gave up five runs in 3.1 innings, ending his streak of dominant starts at six.
- The Mets had one great chance against starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, when they loaded the bases with one out in the third inning, trailing 3-1, but couldn’t get a clutch hit that might have led to a big rally.
Instead, Brandon Nimmo barely beat out a double-play ball to second base, as a run scored to make it 3-2. And a few pitches later, Starling Marte grounded to shortstop for an inning-ending force out.
Yamamoto seemed to be cruising along in the fifth, striking out Francisco Lindor after hitting Francisco Alvarez on the thigh with a pitch.
At that point, he was at 73 pitches but Dave Roberts went to the bullpen, perhaps partly because Vientos had homered off Yamamoto in the first inning, and partly because the Dodgers can’t get to their bullpen soon enough on most nights. And once again the LA bullpen slammed the door shut on the Mets, putting up 4.2 scoreless innings.
- After Ohtani led off the game with a home run, the Mets decided the best way to pitch to him was not to pitch to him at all. They walked him in his next three at-bats, but that proved costly as well when the Japanese superstar came around to score after two of those walks. The second time was on a Mookie Betts home run in the sixth inning off Phil Maton that broke open the game at 7-2 and turned Citi Field awfully quiet.
- Vientos’ first-inning home run tied the game 1-1, as he jumped on a 95-mph fastball from Yamamoto and hit it over the fence in right-center. For Vientos, it was his fourth home run of the postseason, tying him for the most by any player along with Fernando Tatis Jr. Vientos is leading all players in the postseason with 16 hits and 12 RBI.
Game MVP: Shohei Ohtani
His leadoff home run set the tone for another night the Dodgers showcased perhaps the best offense in baseball.
Rather than pitch to him after that, the Mets walked him three straight times, and twice he came around to score runs as the Dodgers pulled away.