LOS ANGELES — Francisco Alvarez drove in his first run in four weeks with a double leading off the 10th inning, and the New York Mets overcame Shohei Ohtani‘s 23rd homer and tying sacrifice fly for a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.
Francisco Lindor had a leadoff homer and a 10th-inning RBI single for the Mets, who opened this National League Championship Series rematch series with their eighth win in nine games.
Ohtani hit a 424-foot shot off Max Kranick in the seventh, getting his fifth homer in seven games to tie Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the major league lead with 23.
Tommy Edman singled and stole second to open the ninth before scoring on Ohtani’s flyout to deep left. Mets closer Edwin Díaz (3-0), pitching for the third time in four days, was handed his first blown save of the season.
After Alvarez and Lindor delivered, José Castillo walked Freddie Freeman and gave up an RBI single to Andy Pages to open the 10th.
Castillo struck out Max Muncy and Freeman got to third on pinch-hitter Will Smith’s flyout before José Buttó gloved Edman’s sharp grounder back to the mound to secure his first save of the season.
Paul Blackburn threw five scoreless innings of three-hit ball and struck out Ohtani twice in his first major league appearance since last August, when the Mets right-hander went down with a back injury before hurting his knee in spring training.
Dustin May yielded six hits over six resourceful innings for LA.
Lindor crushed May’s second pitch for his 14th homer. Six are leadoff homers, tying Ohtani for the major league lead.
Alvarez got his first RBI in 57 at-bats since May 4 with his drive to right off struggling Dodgers reliever Tanner Scott (0-2). Lindor drove in pinch-runner Starling Marte three pitches later.
The Mets have won their last 27 games in which Lindor homered. That’s the second-longest streak in major league history, trailing only the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 29-game streak when Carl Furillo homered from 1951-53.
Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw (0-0, 4.91 ERA) makes his fourth start of the season Tuesday, facing Mets RHP Tylor Megill (4-4, 3.52).
