CNN
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For the third time in four games, the Los Angeles Dodgers bats appeared to be alive and kicking.

The Dodgers defeated the New York Mets 10-2 on the road to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the National League Championship Series on Thursday night.

A raucous New York crowd gathered at Citi Field as members of the 2000 NL pennant team Edgardo Alfonzo and Robin Ventura threw out the first pitch.

However, that excitement quickly turned to quiet as superstar Shohei Ohtani wasted no time getting the Dodgers on the board, hitting a leadoff home run to quickly put the Mets in a hole.

It was the slugger’s second straight game with a home run and the first home run given up by Mets starting pitcher Jose Quintana since August 20.

Los Angeles’ lead didn’t last long, however, as the Mets third baseman responded with a solo shot of his own to tie the score at one in the bottom of the first inning.

In the top of the third, Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman – who has been hitting the cover of the baseball all series – came through again with an RBI double to take back the lead. Kiké Hernández would score another point to give Los Angeles a 3-1 lead.

Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo would run into a fielder’s choice that would bring in a run, but also make it two outs. The next batter, Starling Marte, would then ground out to end the inning, while Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto would limit the damage. The 26-year-old Japanese rookie phenomenon threw 4.1 innings, struckout eight batters and gave up only two runs.

As with all games, the Dodgers responded to every run their counterparts would score. Mookie Betts doubled to left field, allowing Ohtani and Chris Taylor to score and extend the lead to 5-2. Betts would later add a two-run home run in the sixth inning to make it a 7-2 game.

The Mets had more opportunities to close the deficit, but left the bases loaded again in the sixth inning.

It turned out to be a historic night for the Dodgers’ Max Muncy. The 34-year-old extended his streak of consecutive postseason plate appearances and reached base safely to 12, tying Reggie Jackson for most all-time. However, the streak would end in the eighth inning after a strikeout.

After the game, Muncy told the Fox Sports 1 broadcast that he was “unaware” of the record he tied on Thursday.

“That’s pretty cool,” Muncy said. “The most important thing for me is to get on base for my teammates, give them the opportunity to drive me in and just create traffic for the opponent.

Los Angeles would add three runs in the eighth and pitcher Edgardo Henríquez closed out the game to secure the 10–2 win and push the Mets to the brink of elimination.

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Ohtani’s leadoff home run “set the tone” for the game, but downplayed that it caused them to lose the game.

“The solo shot wouldn’t beat us,” Mendoza told reporters. “Yes, it was quite impressive, but not just Ohtani, you have to take care of the other guys behind him.

“But yeah, if he goes out the first at-bat of the game and hits it like that, that’s obviously a good feeling for them. We knew this wasn’t going to beat us, but we couldn’t just stop it.”

The Dodgers are now one win away from reaching the team’s first World Series appearance since 2020, when they won the seventh title in franchise history.

Betts said it’s hard to stay calm when the team is so close to reaching the Fall Classic.

‘I think I’ve often tried to keep those emotions under control. I guess you just ride them. You just ride on those emotions,” Betts said.

“It’s difficult. Like I said, I’ve been trying to stay calm and all that stuff. That doesn’t really work at times like this, so you just have to jump on the roller coaster and enjoy the ride.”

Game 5 is scheduled for Friday at 5:08 PM ET.