FLUSHING, NY — Kiké Hernández in October is a sight to see…
Throughout an elite Dodger lineup, featuring three future Cooperstown Hall of Famers with Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman at the top — a trio that makes for consistent Hollywood-like moments — it was neither of the three, who changed the complexion of Los Angeles’ Game 3 NLCS 8-0 victory over the Mets on Wednesday night.
Though Ohtani went yard on a towering 410 foot three-run homer over Citi Field’s right-field foul pole, Kiké Hernández was responsible for that ‘game-defining swing.’
Kiké Hernández gives a wave to the Dodgers’ bullpen during his home run trot in the sixth inning of Wednesday night’s Game 3 of the NLCS at Citi Field – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Kiké Hernández, a dynamic player on and off the field, one who is accustomed to showing up in October – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
While leading 2-0 with one baserunner on in the top of the sixth inning, a lead still in reach for the ‘never say die Mets,’ the 33-year-old Puerto Rican, from San Juan, known to show up in October — posting a .903 OPS with 32 RBI over 78 games in his postseason career — stepped up to the plate, to have himself yet another October moment.
As the scene was set, Hernández, in the nine-hole, connected on a 1-2 88-MPH splitter from Mets’ reliever Reed Garrett, and sent it 378 feet to left-center field, to lift the Dodgers’ lead to four-zip.
“I don’t know if it’s the Latino blood, I don’t know what it is,” said Hernández on repeatedly showing up in October. “I put myself in a position since I was a little kid thinking that I was playing October baseball when the games were important for me as a kid.”
Off the bat, Hernández’s two-run homer was questionable to have made it out of the park, but the wind helped in that department, marking the 15th home run of his postseason career, which ties Babe Ruth and Jayson Werth for 18th all-time.
Kiké Hernández’s two-run homer in Game 3 of the NLCS was able to just make it out of park – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
“For Kiké to have that at-bat — and hit a homer, that was huge. It was enormous,” LA’s skipper Dave Roberts said of Hernández’s two-run HR, as the Dodgers are now two wins away from the World Series.
“I thought it gave Walker (Buehler, LA’s Game 3 NLCS starter) a little breathing room. I thought it allowed for me to use the pen. And then it allowed guys like Shohei to kind of catch a breath and extend the lead…
But the Kiké homer, biggest hit of the game.”
The Hernández’s: Teoscar Hernández of Cotui, Dominican Republic, hugs Kiké Hernández, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, following Kiké’s two-run homer in Game 3 of the NLCS – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
The catalyst for Los Angeles in Game 3, Hernández, will look to carry the momentum into Thursday night as Game 4 of the NLCS goes down in Queens with the Dodgers leading the best of seven series, 2-1.
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