The Los Angeles Dodgers fell into an early hole against the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League Division Series after Yoshinobu Yamamoto endured some struggles, but completed the unprecedented comeback.
Yamamoto gave up three runs in the first inning, including a two-run homer to Manny Machado. That left a deflating feeling for the fans in attendance at Dodger Stadium, but the Dodgers wasted no time answering back.
Prior to their comeback, the Dodgers were 0-14 in postseason games when they trailed by three or more runs after the first inning. With the win, they are now 1-15 in those games.
Shohei Ohtani belted a game-tying three-run homer in the bottom of the second that injected plenty of life back into the building.
“The three runs kind of knock the air out of you, but when you have Shohei Ohtani, that always helps,” Freddie Freeman said after the Dodgers’ 7-5 comeback win.
“When you need a big hit or big situation comes up, we have the right guy at the plate. He brought the crowd right back into that game. It was just huge. I think the attacking of the fastball, that was literally harped on all week. Just making sure we’re on the fastball, because we kind of missed fastballs our last time in the postseason. So that was our big emphasis.
“Shohei hit a top heater and I was able to hit some heaters. A lot of guys posted some really good ABs. Knocking (Dylan) Cease out of the game after three-plus innings was huge. Get into their bullpen — I know we have some off days in the postseason — but still, they had to cover innings. I just thought we did a really good job of battling back when we’re down. Just overall good.
“That was huge from him. We knew we had to score runs to win a ballgame. They jumped on us, they punched us in the mouth, or whatever you want to call it, but we knew we weren’t out of it. Just got to keep fighting.”
Will Smith agreed that Ohtani’s home run gave the Dodgers a much-needed confidence booster. “That was huge from him. We knew we had to score runs to win a ballgame,” Smith said.
“They jumped on us, they punched us in the mouth, or whatever you want to call it, but we knew we weren’t out of it. Just got to keep fighting.”
Alex Vesia, who logged a scoreless inning in the victory, echoed a similar sentiment. “It mattered for sure. That’s a huge momentum swing. Then to put up zeros inning after inning, it’s huge.”
Shohei Ohtani’s home run ‘got the momentum back’ for Dodgers
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also praised Ohtani for changing the tide in Game 1 of the NLDS. “It obviously got us back in the game. It just got the momentum back for us and just gave us life,” Roberts said.
“I think from pitch one, the fans were just engaged, were in it. I just felt that energy. I think Shohei feeds off that. But that was just a huge hit.”
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