Shohei Ohtani pitched well in his first career postseason start and Teoscar Hernández atoned for a defensive lapse to help the Los Angeles Dodgers earn a 5-3 comeback win against the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
Ohtani’s first time pitching in October was generally a success as he completed six innings and finished with nine strikeouts. All three runs Ohtani allowed in the quality start came in the second inning and due in large part to Hernández failing to cut off a ball in the right-center field gap.
It resulted in an RBI triple for J.T. Realmuto, who later scored on a sacrifice fly.
Ohtani went on a streak of retiring 10 batters in a row that was snapped on a hit by pitch in bottom of the fifth inning. A single then put two on, but Ohtani retired Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber to escape the jam.
Schwarber and Bryce Harper went a combined 0-for-6 with four strikeouts against Ohtani, who retired 15 of the final 17 batters faced. He exited the game with the Dodgers leading 5-3.
Up to that point Ohtani had been bested by Sánchez quieting the Dodgers through five innings. They found some traction in the sixth inning when Freddie Freeman’s walk sparked a two-out rally.
Tommy Edman followed with a base hit and Kiké Hernández’s two-run double put the Dodgers on the board while also chasing Sánchez from the game.
David Robertson remained on the mound in the seventh inning but came out after Andy Pages led off with a single and he hit Will Smith with a pitch.
The Phillies turned to Matt Strahm at that point, and he struck out Ohtani before surrendering the decisive home run to Teoscar Hernández. The homer was Hernández’s third of this year’s playoffs.
Overall in Dodgers postseason history, it was the fifth go-ahead home run hit in the seventh inning or later while the team was trailing.
Tyler Glasnow helps Dodgers bullpen
Not scheduled to start until a potential Game 4, Tyler Glasnow was available out of the bullpen Saturday night and became the first reliever Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to.
Glasnow faced the minimum in the seventh inning and recorded two more outs in the eighth before leaving with the bases loaded. Alex Vesia finished the inning without issue and Roki Sasaki worked around a double in the ninth to convert the save.
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