LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani had himself fairly the primary inning in opposition to the Brewers in Recreation 4 of the Nationwide League Championship Sequence on Friday evening at Dodger Stadium.
His three strikeouts within the prime half had been spectacular. His leadoff dwelling run within the backside half was historic.
After which, for good measure, he homered once more within the fourth.
In offering his personal early run help within the potential clincher, Ohtani turned the primary pitcher in MLB historical past to hit a leadoff dwelling run — in both the common season or the postseason. It was additionally the primary dwelling run by any Dodgers pitcher in postseason historical past.
The final postseason homer by a pitcher got here when the Brewers and Dodgers confronted off within the 2018 NLCS, with Brandon Woodruff taking Clayton Kershaw deep in Recreation 1.
Regardless of all of the firsts, Ohtani’s solo shot off Brewers starter Jose Quintana nonetheless had a little bit of a well-recognized really feel to it. That is as a result of it was precisely one 12 months in the past to the day that Ohtani hit a leadoff dwelling run … off Quintana (then with the Mets) … in Recreation 4 of the NLCS. Per Elias, Ohtani is the fourth participant to homer off the identical pitcher on the identical calendar day in a number of postseasons, becoming a member of Justin Turner (off Max Scherzer, Oct. 7, 2016 and 2019), Manny Ramirez (off Cole Hamels, Oct. 15, 2008 and 2009) and Dusty Baker (off Steve Carlton, Oct. 8, 1977 and 1983).
Ohtani entered Friday simply 3-for-29 (.103) because the begin of the NLDS. He had not homered since his two-homer sport in Recreation 1 of the NL Wild Card Sequence on Sept. 30.
Ohtani put an finish to that drought together with his third profession postseason leadoff dwelling run (which traveled a Statcast-projected 446 ft). That is tied with Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins for the second most in MLB historical past, trailing solely Kyle Schwarber (5).
