NEW YORK (AP) — Shohei Ohtani homered against Jose Quintana leading off Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night, putting the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of the New York Mets.
Ohtani took Quintana's first pitch for a ball, then drove a sinker over the middle of the plate 422 feet into the Mets' bullpen in right-center field for his third postseason homer.
This one gave Ohtani home runs on consecutive swings, after his three-run shot off Tylor Megill in the eighth inning of the Dodgers' 8-0 win Wednesday night helped give Los Angeles a 2-1 series lead.
The likely NL MVP began the night 0 for 22 in the postseason when batting with nobody on base and 7 for 9 with two homers and eight RBIs when hitting with runners aboard.
It was the seventh leadoff homer in Dodgers postseason history. The 117.8 mph drive was the third-hardest-hit postseason home run since Statcast started tracking in 2015, after Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber in last year's NLCS (119.7 mph) and the New York Yankees' Giancarlo Stanton in a 2020 AL Division Series (118.3 mph).
Quintana hadn't allowed a home run in his previous eight starts since Aug. 20.
Mets star Francisco Lindor, who hit a leadoff homer in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, was unable to match Ohtani in the bottom of the first as he grounded out.
But the next New York batter, Mark Vientos, connected off Yoshinobu Yamamoto for his fourth homer of the playoffs to tie the score 1-all.
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Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani celebrates after a home run against the New York Mets during the first inning in Game 4 of a baseball NL Championship Series, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani celebrates after a home run against the New York Mets during the first inning in Game 4 of a baseball NL Championship Series, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani hits a home run against the New York Mets during the first inning in Game 4 of a baseball NL Championship Series, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani hits a home run against the New York Mets during the first inning in Game 4 of a baseball NL Championship Series, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reminded his troops to treat South Korea as a hostile foreign enemy and insisted that the North wouldn’t hesitate to attack its rival if the South infringes upon its sovereignty, state media said Friday.
Kim’s comments at an army headquarters came after North Korea this week confirmed that it revised its constitution to define South Korea as “a hostile state” and blew up front-line road and rail links that were once connected to the South.
The steps punctuated Kim’s calls for North Korea to abandon its longstanding goals of reconciling with the South and reflect his intent to escalate tensions and increase leverage amid a deepening stalemate in diplomacy. Analysts see increasing risks of possible clashes along the rivals’ tense border areas, although it would be highly unlikely for the North to contemplate full-scale attacks in the face of superior U.S. and South Korean forces.
During a visit to the headquarters of the North Korean People’s Army’s 2nd Corps on Thursday, Kim stressed to troops the importance of understanding that any use of offensive force against the South would constitute a “legitimate retaliatory action against the hostile country, not the fellow countrymen.”
He said the North’s detonation of the border road and rail sections on Tuesday demonstrated the North’s resolve to cut off persistent “evil” relations with the South, which “lasted century after century and the complete removal of the useless awareness about fellow countrymen and unreasonable idea of reunification.”
He said the event was also a declaration that his troops wouldn’t hesitate to use physical force against the South, an “apparent hostile country,” if it violates North Korea’s sovereignty, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
South Korea had no immediate comment on Kim’s remarks.
North Korea has been making increasingly provocative threats against rival South Korea in recent weeks, including accusing the South of infiltrating drones to drop anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang this month and threatening to attack if it happens again. South Korea has refused to confirm whether it sent drones but warned that North Korea will face an overwhelming response that would “end its regime” if the safety of South Korean citizens is threatened.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have spiked since 2022, as Kim used Russia’s war on Ukraine as a window to dial up his weapons testing activities and threats. Washington, Seoul and Tokyo have strengthened their combined military exercises in response and took steps to sharpen their nuclear deterrence strategies built around strategic U.S. assets.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told the Associated Press earlier this month that North Korea will likely attempt to ramp up pressure with major provocations around the U.S. presidential elections in November, possibly including a long-range missile test or a nuclear test detonation, to grab Washington's attention.
South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers move in Paju, near the border with North Korea, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers move in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers park in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzer moves in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left on red carpet, visits the headquarters of the North Korean People’s Army’s 2nd Corps at an undisclosed place in North Korea Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits the headquarters of the North Korean People’s Army’s 2nd Corps at an undisclosed place in North Korea Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. 8(Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, visits the headquarters of the North Korean People’s Army’s 2nd Corps at an undisclosed place in North Korea Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: "KCNA" which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
