NEW YORK — Mookie Betts homered and finished with four hits and four RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who took control of the National League Championship Series with a 10-2 win over the New York Mets in Game 4 on Thursday night.
The Dodgers lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and will attempt to clinch the pennant and a trip to the World Series on Friday afternoon, when the teams are scheduled to play Game 5 in New York.
The Mets, who will be playing an elimination game for the second time this month, have been outscored 30-9 in the NLCS.
The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani homered on the second pitch of the game and walked in each of his next three plate appearances – all of which led to rally-extending hits by Betts. The former American League MVP singled and later scored the final run of a two-run third-inning rally before lacing a two-run double in the fourth to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 5-2.
Betts added insurance in the sixth, when he greeted Phil Maton with a homer to left.
Tommy Edman put the Dodgers ahead for good with a two-out RBI double in the third. Enrique Hernandez followed with a run-scoring single. Edman had a two-run double in the eighth, when Will Smith added an RBI single.
Max Muncy, who started at first base with Freddie Freeman out due to a sore right ankle, walked in his first three plate appearances before singling in the seventh. It was the 12th straight plate appearance in which he had reached base, tying Reggie Jackson’s postseason record. Muncy struck out in the eighth.
Evan Phillips (2-0), the second of four Dodgers pitchers, earned the win by tossing 1 1/3 scoreless innings. He relieved starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who gave up two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out eight over 4 2/3 innings.
Mark Vientos homered in the first inning and Brandon Nimmo legged out the back end of a potential double-play grounder in the third inning for the Mets, who finished 4-for-22 with runners on base and left the bases loaded twice.
Jose Quintana (0-1) took the loss after allowing five runs on five hits and four walks over 3 1/3 innings. He struck out two.
-Jerry Beach, Field Level Media
