LOS ANGELES (Interstat) — Shohei Ohtani delivered a performance for the ages, pitching six dominant innings and launching three home runs to power the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night, moving the Dodgers to the brink of a National League Championship Series berth.

Before a sold-out crowd of 52,883 at Dodger Stadium, Ohtani was untouchable on the mound and unstoppable at the plate, single-handedly overwhelming the Brewers in Game 4 of this playoff series. The win gives the Dodgers a commanding three-games-to-none lead.

The two-way superstar set the tone immediately. After the Brewers managed a first-inning run without a hit — a leadoff walk to Brice Turang, who later scored on a Tommy Edman single — Ohtani stepped to the plate in the bottom of the inning and erased the deficit with one swing, crushing a solo home run to right field off Milwaukee starter Jose Quintana.

The Dodgers were not done in the first. Mookie Betts and Will Smith followed with singles, and after a strikeout, Edman lined a single to center to score Betts. Teoscar Hernández then grounded out to first, allowing Smith to cross the plate, staking Ohtani to a 3-1 lead before he had even thrown a pitch.

From there, Ohtani the pitcher took over. He allowed just two hits — a ground-rule double to Jackson Chourio in the fourth and a single to William Contreras in the seventh — while striking out 10 Brewers batters and walking one. He consistently stifled Milwaukee’s lineup, facing the minimum through three innings and working out of a minor jam in the third after back-to-back singles by Smith and Freddie Freeman by striking out Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández.

Ohtani the hitter, however, was just getting warmed up. In the bottom of the fourth inning, with his pitch count climbing, he provided his own run support again, launching his second solo home run of the game, this one to right-center field, to extend the Dodgers’ lead to 4-1.

After exiting the game following the sixth inning, having thrown 102 pitches, Ohtani returned to the batter’s box in the seventh as the designated hitter. Facing reliever Trevor Megill, he completed his historic night by blasting his third home run, a towering shot to center field, for his fifth long ball of the series and a 5-1 Dodgers advantage.

The Brewers, who managed only five hits total, finally scratched across a run in the eighth inning to avoid a shutout. Caleb Durbin led off with a double and Andruw Monasterio walked. After a strikeout, Brice Turang grounded into a forceout, allowing Durbin to score. A single by Jackson Chourio put two runners on, but Christian Yelich grounded out to end the threat.

Milwaukee put one more runner on in the ninth when Contreras singled, but Sal Frelick grounded into a forceout and Caleb Durbin flied out to right to end the game.

The Dodgers’ bullpen preserved the lead, with Roki Sasaki, Alex Vesia, Anthony Banda and Blake Treinen combining for three innings of one-run relief. Treinen recorded the final out for his first save of the postseason.

Quintana took the loss for Milwaukee, falling to 11-8 on the season. He was charged with four runs on seven hits over four innings of work. The Brewers’ bullpen, led by Chad Patrick’s four innings of one-hit, one-run ball, kept the game within reach, but the offense could not solve Ohtani or the Dodgers’ pitching staff.

The victory improves the Dodgers’ season record to 102-70, while the Brewers fall to 100-71. Ohtani earned the win to move to 3-1, his final line a testament to his unparalleled versatility: 6 innings pitched, 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts as a pitcher, and 3-for-3 with three home runs, three RBIs and three runs scored as a hitter.

The Dodgers can complete the series sweep and advance to the World Series on Saturday. The Brewers, facing elimination, will turn to their season in a must-win Game 5.