LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani unleashed a mighty swing and flung his bat simply as ferociously. For a short second, earlier than making his method up the first-base line to commemorate his two-out, game-tying three-run homer in Saturday's second inning, he even sauntered.
“I could really feel the intensity of the stadium before the game began,” Ohtani mentioned by means of an interpreter, “and I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
With one swing, Ohtani by some means met the big hype he carried into his postseason debut. And by means of 9 innings, the excitement that surrounded a National League Division Series showdown between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres lived as much as its billing. It completed with a 7-5 Dodgers win in Game 1 in entrance of a sold-out crowd. Before that, there have been lead modifications and early runs, defensive gems and demanding errors, tense jams and fixed electrical energy.
The first jolt was offered by Ohtani.
“I don't even try to explain him anymore,” Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen mentioned. “Just watch and enjoy.”
Ohtani's homer — a 118 mph line drive to proper subject on an elevated fastball by Padres right-hander Dylan Cease — got here an inning after Manny Machado's two-run shot gave San Diego an early three-run lead.
After Xander Bogaerts gave the Padres the lead once more on a third-inning two-run double, the Dodgers got here again once more in the underside of the fourth, loading the bases with one out then leaping forward on a wild pitch and a two-run single by Teoscar Hernandez.
A Dodgers bullpen that shall be relied on closely given the group's starting-pitching woes took it from there. Ryan Brasier, Alex Vesia, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech and Treinen relieved a wobbly Yoshinobu Yamamoto and mixed for six scoreless innings, strolling 4 batters however scattering two hits.
The Padres made it fascinating in opposition to Treinen in the ninth, placing runners on first and second with two outs to deliver up Machado, whose throwing error paved the way in which for an insurance coverage run in the fifth inning. With the depend 1-2, Treinen unleashed a devastating sweeper that sailed method exterior and previous Machado's bat for a game-ending strikeout.
“I talked about this for a few weeks: We need to fight,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “And that's what we did tonight.”
The Dodgers have skilled main heartbreak the previous two Octobers, incomes first-round byes solely to get eradicated in the NLDS by division rivals they totally outplayed through the common season. They went into this yr's postseason in search of a sure edge that may carry them in opposition to a Padres group that's more healthy and extra well-rounded, and the Dodgers acquired it from an assortment of gamers in Game 1.
It got here from Treinen, who was requested to document 5 outs for the first time all yr and delivered. It got here from veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas, who performed by means of a tear in an adductor muscle and made a nifty, over-the-shoulder catch with the Padres threatening in the eighth inning. It got here from Gavin Lux, who recorded the second out of the ninth inning with a sprawling catch on a Luis Arraez liner. And it got here from Freddie Freeman, who contributed two hits and a stolen base regardless of severe doubts about whether or not he would have the ability to play.
“I was told there was a 1% chance that Freddie was going to be able to play,” mentioned Max Muncy, who would have changed Freeman at first base. “I didn't believe that.”
Freeman sprained his proper ankle Sept. 26 and spent the following eight days preventing to play in the postseason. When he spoke to the media Friday afternoon, he mentioned the ankle was “good enough” to start out in Game 1. But Freeman mentioned he “woke up feeling sore.” He instructed his oldest son, Charlie, on Saturday morning that he most likely would not play then arrived at Dodger Stadium early and went by means of 4 hours of therapy.
Roughly three hours earlier than recreation time, Freeman navigated by means of gentle protection and baserunning work on the sphere then went inside, hit off one of many Dodgers' high-velocity pitching machines and inserted himself into the lineup.
“I don't think anybody expected him to play,” Rojas mentioned. “It was a borderline miracle.”
Ohtani's efficiency has been nothing wanting miraculous in current weeks. It started Sept. 19, when he went 6-for-6 with three residence runs, 10 RBIs and two stolen bases in the sport that noticed him clinch his first playoff berth and turn out to be the first member of the 50/50 membership. Ohtani proceeded to navigate a 10-game run that noticed him publish a 1.853 OPS to complete the common season. He struggled early on with runners in scoring place then slashed .577/.633/1.308 in that scenario in September, at a time when the Dodgers' division lead appeared in jeopardy.
To Dodgers gamers and coaches, it offered a snapshot for the way Ohtani may deal with his first style of October. Then he delivered in his second at-bat, turning into the third participant — together with Brooks Robinson in 1966 and Giancarlo Stanton in 2018 — to homer in his postseason debut.
“He injected an absolute lightning bolt into the stadium,” Muncy mentioned of Ohtani. “And from then on it was like, ‘All right, we got this. We're good.'”
