Ohtani, Betts lead way as L.A. puts Mets on brink

NEW YORK — Don’t give in to the nibble. The mantra the Los Angeles Dodgers followed in their shellacking of the New York Mets on Thursday night in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series was introduced in the pregame hitters’ meeting, carried over into the dugout and manifested itself on the field, where they blitzed the Mets early and never relented in a 10-2 victory.

Mets starter Jose Quintana entered the game with 0.00 ERA this postseason — and by far the lowest percentage of pitches thrown in the strike zone. He is, in baseball parlance, a nibbler.

In avoiding the temptation of Quintana’s array of waste pitches, forcing him to throw more in the zone and punishing him when he did, the Dodgers took a commanding 3-1 series lead and can clinch their 22nd World Series berth Friday night.

Right fielder Mookie Betts went 4-for-6 with a home run and four RBIs. Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani pummeled a leadoff home run, walked three times and scored four runs. Infielder Max Muncy got on base his first four times up to set a major league record with 12 consecutive plate appearances in which he reached.

The victory mirrored Los Angeles’ triumphs in Games 1 and 3: utter supremacy. Each of the Dodgers’ wins has come by at least eight runs. They have outscored the Mets 30-9. The crowd of 43,882 arrived at Citi Field ready to watch the Mets even the series and left 3 hours, 39 minutes later deflated by the Dodgers’ dominance.

“When you have plans and you stick to ’em,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said, “most of the time they’re going to work out.”

Freeman, typically the Dodgers’ No. 3 hitter, did not play because of an ankle injury. But he sat in on the hitters’ meeting in which coaches laid out Quintana’s plan of attack. During the regular season, only 41.4% of his pitches landed in the rulebook zone — the lowest percentage among the 174 pitchers who threw at least 75 innings. Over his first two playoff starts, his in-zone rate dipped to 34.2%.

The task was evident: Don’t fall prey to Quintana’s propensity to dance on the edges of the zone. It worked. The Dodgers swung at 66% of his pitches in the rulebook zone but only 13% outside. By contrast, the Mets offered at 64% of Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s in-zone pitches and 46% of those outside.

“That’s the beauty of our team,” Betts said. “It can change, but whoever is in the lineup is good and they’re going to follow the plan. They want to win. So that’s why we’re up 3-1 right now.”

At the top of the lineup, Ohtani led off in the remarkable fashion he so often does, walloping a 90 mph sinker Quintana left in the middle of the zone out to right-center field and staking the Dodgers to an immediate 1-0 advantage. The ball traveled 422 feet and left Ohtani’s bat at 117.8 mph — the third hardest-hit postseason home run in baseball’s pitch-tracking era.

The swing sufficiently spooked the Mets, who over Ohtani’s next three plate appearances pitched around him — and woke up Betts. The 32-year-old, whose struggles early in the postseason vexed him, had spent extra time taking swings in the batting cage recently to continue his playoff resurgence. After Ohtani’s first walk in the third inning, Betts singled and both eventually scored. Following Ohtani’s second walk, Betts plated a pair of runs with a double into the left-field corner off Jose Butto, who replaced Quintana, and extended the Dodgers’ advantage to 5-2. Ohtani’s third walk preceded a Betts home run off another new pitcher, Phil Maton, that bumped the lead to 7-2.

While none of the walks to Ohtani were intentional like the one Dodgers manager Dave Roberts issued to Francisco Lindor prior to Mark Vientos‘ grand slam in Game 2 — something Vientos admitted bothered him — Roberts believes they had a similar effect on Betts.

“I think he took it the same way Vientos took it — personal,” Roberts said. “And that’s OK. That’s OK. And I think that he understands that whether it’s a manager putting four fingers up or you’re throwing intentional balls two feet outside, you’re going to go after the next guy. So I think that Mookie takes it personal like all competitors should. And I do think that stuff like that lights a little fire under him.”

The fire raged well beyond the dynamic duo at the top of the lineup. Shortstop Tommy Edman, far from a prototypical cleanup hitter, drove in three runs, including a pair in the eighth inning. Enrique Hernandez, the Dodgers’ October surprise, booked two hits and knocked in a run. And Muncy, the 34-year-old who usually mans third base but slid over to first in Freeman’s stead, walked his first three times up and then singled up the middle to extend his streak to 12 consecutive plate appearances getting on base. His run ended in the eighth inning with a strikeout.

With eight of those times on base coming via walk, Muncy helped set a tone replicated by his teammates. In four games of the NLCS, the Dodgers have drawn 31 walks, and the nine they took Thursday — including three each by Muncy and Ohtani — embodied Los Angeles’ ability to formulate an intelligent game plan and execute it.

“This is a team that controls the strike zone as well as anybody in the league,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Not only do they do that, but when they force you in the zone, they can do some damage. And they’ve done that. They did it again today. They control the strike zone. They forced Quintana to come in on the strike zone. And when he did, they made him pay.”

Quintana exited after 3⅓ innings, allowing five runs and walking four batters while striking out just two. Butto walked a pair, Maton one and the Mets’ final pitcher, Danny Young, two more.

“When we need a walk, we battle throughout the at-bat and we take a walk,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “There’s no heroes in this clubhouse. If they’re not pitching to you, you just get on base for the next guy behind you.”

The Dodgers’ lineup is a pick-your-poison operation — “just so tough for starting pitchers,” Freeman said, because “right out of the gate, you’re facing Hall of Famers.” Ohtani and Betts will eventually make their way to Cooperstown, as will Freeman, and their plaques will reflect not only the successes they achieved individually but as a team.

Nights like Thursday serve as a reminder of how good they are, how good the Dodgers are and how not giving into the nibble is a lesson they will be well-served to remember as they try to win one more game and the National League pennant.