Shohei Ohtani experienced a new first with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday as he took the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
It was Ohtani’s first postseason start as a pitcher, and he managed to throw six quality innings in the Dodgers’ 5-3 comeback win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.
Ohtani allowed three runs and three hits with nine strikeouts against one walk on 89 pitches.
The Dodgers bullpen then handled the final three innings, culminating with Roki Sasaki notching his first career Major League save. The right-hander worked around a double to get through a scoreless ninth.
That amounted to Ohtani and Sasaki combining to make MLB history as they became the first Japanese-born starter and reliever combo to earn both the win and save in the same MLB postseason game.
Overall, the Dodgers are just the second team in MLB postseason history with a win and save from Japanese-born pitchers in the same game.
They joined the Boston Red Sox, who had Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara do so in Game 6 of the 2013 American League Championship Series. Tazawa, a reliever, got the win after retiring his only batter faced in the seventh inning.
Shohei Ohtani makes more MLB history
Ohtani made additional MLB history against the Phillies as he became the first player to start at least one game as a pitcher and at least one game as a non-pitcher in the same postseason.
“It’s certainly never been done, certainly at this level,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Game 1 of the NLDS. “I think it just really speaks to, I use the word compartmentalize a lot. But this epitomizes compartmentalizing. He’s essentially two people in one night, in one game.
“To kind of look at the at-bats that he took tonight and how he struggled offensively, but to separate that and just be a pitcher, and weather that inning. And to go out there and give us six innings, keep us in the ballgame, I just don’t know any human that can manage that, those emotions, and how do you not take that to the mound?
“We continue to just witness history.”
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