Shohei Ohtani tied NLDS Game 4 without swinging — a Braves drop did the rest

Shohei Ohtani never swung the bat in the second inning of NLDS Game 4, and he still produced the run that tied the game. A leadoff walk, a stolen base, a throwing error and a dropped pop-up added up to a 1-1 score on Wednesday as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves traded early breaks.

Game 4 opened frantic, which makes sense when a team is fighting to keep its season alive. Ohtani entered the night batting fourth and trying to shake a quiet postseason start: he was 2-for-10 through the series' first three games.

How Ohtani scored without putting the ball in play

Facing Tyler Mahle with nobody on and nobody out, Ohtani did not swing once. He worked a five-pitch leadoff walk, then took off with Teoscar Hernández at the plate and swiped second base while Hernández struck out swinging. The next break arrived quickly: catcher Sean Murphy's throw sailed into right field, and Ohtani got up and jogged the rest of the way to third.

That left the tying run 90 feet away, and the Dodgers were still hitless with runners in scoring position in the entire series. Max Muncy got under a splitter away and lofted a high pop-up toward shallow left field, where Braves shortstop Mauricio Dubón drifted out with left fielder Mike Yastrzemski also closing in.

Dubón overplayed it. He tried to shift back to his left, and the ball dropped. Ohtani scored easily, tying the game at 1-1 in the top of the second.

Atlanta had taken the lead an inning earlier, when Michael Harris II scored from third on a heads-up read of a Tyler Glasnow curveball in the dirt. The Dodgers answered with no hits at all; Ohtani's legs, a wayward throw and a dropped fly ball wiped out Atlanta's 1-0 edge.