LOS ANGELES (AP) — When Shohei Ohtani’s third home run rocketed off his bat and streaked toward the left-field bleachers, the few fans still sitting at Dodger Stadium rose frantically, as if every single seat in the sold-out building had received a shock.
At the plate and on the mound, Ohtani was simply electrifying in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series while he conjured one of the greatest single-game performances in baseball history — perhaps even all of sports.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ two-way superstar delivered the 13th three-homer game in postseason annals Friday night, connecting in the first, fourth and seventh innings for three epic solo shots traveling a combined 1,342 feet.
He was similarly brilliant on the mound, throwing scoreless, two-hit ball into the seventh inning with 10 strikeouts and a masterful variety in his 100 pitches.
Ohtani also did it all at an extraordinarily important moment for his team: The Dodgers’ 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers sent the defending champions back to the World Series with a four-game sweep of the majors’ best regular-season squad.