QUEENS, NY — Citi Field is, in fact, penetrable after all.
Three home runs, headlined by a majestic three-run shot from Shohei Ohtani in the eighth, lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 8-0 victory in Game 3 of the NLCS at Citi Field on Wednesday night to take a 2-games-to-1 series lead.
The Mets’ offense continued struggling since Mark Vientos’ grand slam in Game 2, leaving eight men on base. It is the first time this postseason that New York has lost at home, but the second time in three games that they have been shut out.
“We’re in the playoffs and when you’re facing a pitching staff like that, it’s going to be hard,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’re creating traffic. I like the fact that we’re getting guys on base. We just haven’t been able to come up with the big hit.”
They were shut down through the first four innings by Walker Buehler, who had a 5.38 ERA during the regular season and was tagged for six runs by the San Diego Padres in his last postseason start. Still with a short leash after a season riddled by injuries, he struck out six with three hits and two walks.
Michael Kopech, Ryan Brasier, Blake Treinen, and Ben Casparius went the last five innings with little issue, combining to yield just one hit.
Mets starter Luis Severino did not last much longer than Buehler, going 4.2 taxing innings, allowing two runs (none earned) on three hits with four walks and three strikeouts.
The Dodgers plated a pair of runs in the second to take an early lead thanks to some defensive difficulties headlined by Severino, who was named a Gold Glove finalist earlier on Wednesday.
“When you’re giving a team like this extra outs, extra bases, they’re going to make you pay,” Mendoza said.
Following a Max Muncy walk, Teoscar Hernandez’s slow dribbler in front of home was fielded by catcher Francisco Alvarez, who opted to try and get Muncy advancing to second. The throw hit the sliding Dodgers, allowing both runners to reach their next station safely with no outs — the play retroactively being deemed an error by Alvarez.
“Maybe trying to do a little too much there,” Mendoza said.
Gavin Lux’s sharp comebacker to Severino clanged off his glove — fielding it cleanly could have sparked a double play — forcing the starter to settle for the out at first to put runners on second and third. The next batter, Will Smith, also hit a comebacker that glanced off Severino’s glove, allowing the Los Angeles catcher to reach safely while scoring Muncy from third for the game’s opening run.
“I was not good. I should’ve caught those,” Severino said. “One should’ve been a double play and the other, I should’ve stopped the guy going to home plate. I made a couple mistakes there.”
Tyrone Taylor helped limit the damage by tracking down a Tommy Edman liner in the right-center-field gap and making a brilliant sliding catch while colliding with right-fielder Starling Marte. It was a vital second out as Hernandez tagged from third to make it a 2-0 game. Severino got out of the inning with a strikeout of Enrique Hernandez. Both runs were unearned.
The Mets loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the second, but Buehler got consecutive strikeouts from Alvarez and Francisco Lindor to escape. The Dodgers did the exact same in the top of the third, loading the bases with one out, but it was Severino’s turn to escape thanks to a lineout by Hernandez and a comebacker by Lux.
Enrique Hernandez doubled the Dodgers’ lead in the sixth when he lifted a two-out, two-run home run off reliever Reed Garrett to make it a 4-0 game. Ohtani put the game to bed in the eighth off Tylor Megill, turning on an inside cutter and launching it 410 feet over the left-field foul pole in right field and into the second deck.
“I was trying to get it up and in,” Megill said. “The cutter was just kind of diving down a little bit tonight. I didn’t have the best feel for it tonight. I just threw it into his honey hole, and he launched it into the upper deck.”
Muncy left the yard to lead off the ninth to add insult to Mets injuries as the 8-0 scoreline was the second-worst shutout loss in franchise postseason history. The worst was in Game 1 of this series when Los Angeles won 9-0.
First pitch for Game 4 is scheduled for 8:08 p.m. ET at Citi Field on Thursday night.
