Kiké Hernández and Shohei Ohtani help Dodgers to 2-1 NLCS lead over Mets: Takeaways

NEW YORK – Shohei Ohtani hit his second home run of the season and gave the Los Angeles Dodgers three late insurance runs in an 8-0 victory that gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead in the National League Championship Series.

Ohtani, who entered the game 0-for-19 with no runner on base, extended his bases-free streak by going hitless with a walk in his first four plate appearances of the game.

With two hits in the eighth inning, Ohtani hit a towering home run just inside the right foul pole for his second home run of the postseason. Ohtani is now 7 for 9 with runners on base this October, including two home runs.

Kiké Hernández sparked the F-bomb-filled mantra that the Dodgers said helped them pull off a comeback in the NLDS against the Padres, and it was Hernández whose home run in Game 5 of that series gave the Dodgers a lead, that they didn't want to give up.

“I kept telling myself that they brought you here for a reason,” Hernández said that night. “They brought you here to play in October. I wanted to come back and make a run with this team because I really want to put on a parade.”

Hernández's most recent moment and 15th career postseason home run was his sixth. The Dodgers were clinging to a two-run lead, and a tricky part of the Mets lineup was on the line. After Tommy Edman hit a two-out single to right and advanced to a block, Hernández capitalized on an error. Reed Garrett left a two-strike splitter across the plate. Hernández didn't miss it, making it through the cold New York night to hit a two-run shot that doubled the Dodgers' lead and allowed the club to further roll out its lever arms and have some breathing room.

Quiet bats reduce the Mets' margin for error

The Mets were eliminated for the second time in three games of this series, held by the inconsistent Walker Buehler and the regulars of the Los Angeles bullpen.

New York had a few chances early against Buehler. The second inning in particular stood out. After the Dodgers survived two unearned runs, the Mets loaded the bases with one out. But Francisco Alvarez, deep in October slump, struck out and Francisco Lindor struck out with a swing for a 3-2 curveball.

Francisco Lindor and the Mets offense missed an early chance against Walker Buehler and never got going again. (Elsa/Getty Images)

Alvarez is 1 for 9 in the series, which doesn't sound too bad until you consider the context of these attacks. In the last two games alone, he went scoreless at bats with:

• Runners in second and third and one out
• The bases loaded and two outs
• Runners on first and second and two outs
• The bases are loaded with one out

This offensive silence made the Mets' defensive errors in that second inning all the more apparent. Los Angeles scored on a walk and three balls in the game that traveled a total of 36 feet, helped by an error by Alvarez and Luis Severino's inability to clean up two comebackers.

Buehler finds a swing-and-miss at the right time

It's not hard to tell the difference between the second innings of Buehler's two postseason starts. In the second inning of Game 3 of the NLDS against the San Diego Padres, Buehler reached six different two-strike counts, recording just one out. For the second time in his career, he finished the night with no strikeouts in a start. The Padres, the best contact team in the majors, put the ball in play. The Dodgers defense fumbled the inning behind him, resulting in six runs.

Bühler found something different on Wednesday evening. With a heavy diet of sweepers and curveballs, he hit more swing-and-miss than at any time since returning from a second Tommy John surgery on May 6. That proved sufficient, especially on an evening when he lacked his usual self-control. Buehler threw just 51 strikes on his 90 pitches in four scoreless innings, but managed 18 whiffs – his most of the season – and six strikeouts.

None was more important than the second inning. As the Mets loaded the bases with two walks and an infield single that Edman couldn't handle, Buehler relented. He froze the gaze of Francisco Alvarez with a fastball that hit the outside half of the plate, then ended a seven-pitch battle against Mets superstar Francisco Lindor with a curveball that the shortstop could only wave through to end the threat .

The two scoreless innings that followed left a rested Dodgers bullpen with a two-run lead, ideal circumstances for Los Angeles.

(Photo by Shohei Ohtani: Luke Hales / Getty Images)