Ohtani does it all for Dodgers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs and pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning Friday night, putting on a spectacular two-way show for the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

With 10 strikeouts on the mound and three homers that traveled a combined 1,342 feet at the plate, Ohtani made history in both of his dual roles for the defending champion Dodgers, who returned to the World Series with a 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers that completed a four-game sweep.

“I don’t think there’s any better performance in postseason history,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said during his team’s clubhouse celebration.

Ohtani earned the NLCS MVP award almost solely on the strength of this one iconic game.

During the postgame festivities on a stage in the Dodger Stadium infield, Ohtani even identified the perfect capper to his historic evening.

“This is really a team effort, so I hope everybody in LA and Japan and all over the world can enjoy a really good sake,” said Ohtani, a connoisseur of the famed Japanese rice wine.

After striking out three Brewers in the top of the first, Ohtani hit the first leadoff homer by a pitcher in major league history. He hit a second titanic drive in the fourth and launched a third solo homer in the seventh.

The three-time MVP became the 12th player to hit three homers in a postseason game and the first since Chris Taylor did it for the Dodgers in October 2021. Kiké Hernández also accomplished the feat for the Dodgers in the 2017 NLCS.

Along with his theatrics at the plate, Ohtani dominated Milwaukee batters during his second postseason pitching start. He allowed only two hits and walked off the mound to a stadium-shaking ovation after the first two Brewers hitters reached base in the seventh, but reliever Alex Vesia escaped the jam to keep the Dodgers’ 4-0 lead intact.

Ohtani quickly broke out of his postseason hitting slump with a 446-foot shot to right field off Brewers starter Jose Quintana for the first leadoff homer hit by a pitcher in any big league game.

Ohtani became the first pitcher to record three strikeouts and a homer in the same inning in the postseason, and the first to do it in any game since Huascar Ynoa for Atlanta in 2021 — before the National League permanently adopted the designated hitter.

Ohtani followed with a 469-foot shot off a low, inside cutter from Chad Patrick in the fourth. The ball cleared the pavilion roof above the right-center bleachers at Dodger Stadium after leaving his bat at 116.9 mph.

Ohtani, who hadn’t homered since hitting two in Los Angeles’ playoff opener against Cincinnati, is the first Dodgers player with two multihomer games in one postseason. He also became the first player with two homers in a regular-season or postseason game with 116 mph or higher exit velocity since Statcast started tracking in 2015.

Ohtani was just as impressive on the mound.

The three-time MVP issued a leadoff walk to Brice Turang in the first, but struck out Jackson Chourio, Christian Yelich and William Contreras with a mix of 100 mph fastballs and vicious breaking pitches.

Chourio doubled leading off the fourth for Milwaukee’s first hit, but Ohtani stranded him with a groundout and two strikeouts. Ohtani got two more strikeouts in the fifth, leaving the mound to yet another standing ovation.

Yelich drew a walk in the seventh before Contreras chased Ohtani with a single on his 100th pitch.

Before his first homer, Ohtani hadn’t contributed much to the Dodgers with his bat during their otherwise impressive playoff run to the brink of another World Series.

The team still had a feeling Ohtani would seize the opportunity to do something special.

“I think this is his opportunity to make his mark on this series, and so we’re going to see his best effort,” Roberts said several hours before Game 4. “I feel good that he’s pitching for us, and there’s going to be some serious focus and compete tonight.”

Ohtani’s first homer was a no-doubt shot, and he paused briefly at the plate to admire it. His second leadoff homer of the postseason ended his eight-game drought since he hit two in the Wild Card Series opener against Cincinnati.

His second homer was even more astounding, and the screams of disblief from the Chavez Ravine crowd emphasized the historic nature of the night. He also drew a walk in the second inning.

Before Game 4, Ohtani was in a 6-for-38 drought as the Dodgers’ leadoff hitter in the postseason. The fearsome slugger who was third in the majors with a franchise-record 55 homers during the regular season hadn’t connected since Sept. 30.

Although Ohtani tripled and scored in the first inning of Game 3 against Milwaukee, that was his only extra-base hit in the last eight games — and just one of his six postseason RBIs came in the past five games.

Ohtani went 2 for 11 with three walks in his first three games against the Brewers.

While his two-way role requires him to do extensive off-field work to stay ready for both jobs, Ohtani probably wouldn’t blame his plate struggles on his pitching responsibilities. In fact, he had pitched in only two games over the past 30 days before Game 4, thanks to the permutations of the Dodgers’ schedule.

In his last regular-season start, Ohtani pitched six scoreless innings of five-hit ball against Arizona on Sept. 23, throwing a season-high 91 pitches. In his MLB postseason mound debut Oct. 4, he gave up three runs over six innings with nine strikeouts to earn the victory in Los Angeles’ 5-3 win at Philadelphia in the Division Series opener.

Ohtani also had the motivation of matching his fellow Dodgers starters, who have been phenomenal on the mound ever since the playoff race got serious.

The Dodgers’ rotation held batters in September to an MLB record-low .173 average for a single month. Since the postseason began, Los Angeles’ four starting pitchers — Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Ohtani — have allowed just 10 earned runs while pitching 64 1/3 innings with 81 strikeouts over their 10 playoff games.

Once a Buckeye, now a Badger

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — No. 1 Ohio State’s drive toward a potential second straight national championship includes a visit this week to an old friend going through a career crisis.

Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell played for Ohio State from 1993-96 and worked on the Buckeyes’ staff for 16 years, including a one-season stint as interim head coach in 2011. Now he occupies one of the hottest seats in college football.

Fickell’s Badgers (2-4, 0-3 Big Ten) carry a four-game skid into Saturday’s game with the top-ranked Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0). Wisconsin has lost 27-10 to Maryland and 37-0 to Iowa in its last two home games, leading to chants of “Fire Fickell” and speculation about his job security.

“For me to sit here and worry about all those other things, there’s not enough time in the day,” Fickell said. “There’s not enough energy in the day. The focus for me and our staff is on the guys inside that locker room and doing everything we can to make sure we keep that thing rolling, they’ve got the right mindset, they understand what we’ve got to do, we’ve got to do together. We’ve got to put our best product out there on Saturday.”

Ohio State has outscored its first six opponents by an average margin of 30 points. Wisconsin has dropped its last four contests by an average margin of 23 points.

Even so, the Buckeyes are taking nothing for granted.

“Well, they play hard,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “And they’re well coached. I think maybe the easy thing to do is to look at their record or look at maybe what happened last week and think otherwise. But that’s not the case. This is a team that has good players and is playing very hard.”

BetMGM Sportsbook favors Ohio State by 25 1/2 points. According to the Bet Labs database, before this week Wisconsin had never been more than a 19-point underdog (for a 52-21 loss at Ohio State in 2022) since at least 2005, which is as far back as its tracking goes.

“You’ve just got to realize what an opportunity it is,” Wisconsin cornerback Ricardo Hallman said. “These are the types of opportunities that you pray for, the situation you want to be in. And no matter if the outside world gives you, I go into (it with) the mindset that anybody is beatable. We’re just not going to lay down because they’re Ohio State, the No. 1 team in the country. You’re going to go out there, play your best ball, live up to these moments.”

Surging Smith

Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith has a touchdown reception in five straight games as the sensational sophomore tries to match his streak from last year, when he caught a touchdown pass in seven consecutive games.

His seven touchdown catches this season put him in a tie for second place among all Bowl Subdivision players. San Jose State’s Danny Scudero has an FBS-leading eight touchdown receptions.

Statistical mismatch

Ohio State is allowing just 6.8 points per game to lead all FBS teams in scoring defense. The Buckeyes’ 34-16 triumph over then-No. 17 Illinois last week marked the first time anyone had scored in double figures against them.

Wisconsin averages 15.5 points per game to rank 131st out of 136 FBS schools and last among Power Four programs.

Wisconsin’s QB uncertainty

Billy Edwards Jr. was Wisconsin’s season-opening starting quarterback, but he sprained his knee in the second quarter of the Badgers’ first game and has played only one full series since. Fickell had no update on Edwards’ status during his weekly news conference Monday and didn’t indicate who might start if the Maryland transfer is unavailable.

Danny O’Neil took over for Edwards initially and has completed 70.6% of his passes for 640 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions. Hunter Simmons, who has started Wisconsin’s last two games, has completed 55.9% of his passes for 329 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions.

Streaking in different directions

Ohio State has won 10 straight games, matching Memphis for the longest active streak of any FBS team. Wisconsin has lost its last nine games against Power Four programs.