PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Shohei Ohtani struck out not once, twice, three times but four — four! — straight times and almost snuffed a late Dodgers rally.
The Oh-4 nearly cost Los Angeles.
Good news for the Dodgers, Ohtani the ace was about as good as he needed to be on the mound — with a little pop from teammate Teoscar Hernández to help along the way — for the two-way star to win his playoff pitching debut.
With more than 45,000 Phillies fans against him, Ohtani settled down after a three-run second to strike out nine over six innings and lead the Dodgers to a 5-3 win over Philadelphia on Saturday night in Game 1 of their NL Division Series.
Ohtani retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced, and the right-hander held Trea Turner, NL home run and RBI champion Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper to 0 for 9 with five strikeouts against him.
Even when Ohtani’s bat went cold, he warmed up over 89 pitches in a deep outing for him.
“The reason why I’m a two-way player is because that’s who I am, and it’s what I can do,” Ohtani said through a translator.
Hernández rallied the Dodgers with a three-run homer after Ohtani struck out with two runners on base in the seventh inning, and three Los Angeles relievers combined for three scoreless innings.
Alex Vesia retired pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa with the bases loaded in the eighth to preserve the lead. Roki Sasaki worked the ninth for his first career save.
Ohtani and Sasaki are the first Japanese-born starter and reliever to earn a win and a save in the same postseason game.
“This epitomizes compartmentalizing. He’s essentially two people in one night, in one game,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “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? So, yeah, we continue to just witness history.”
Ohtani stepped on the field shortly before the first playoff start of his career and was booed so voraciously by Phillies fans, they drowned out the hype video playing on the big screen.
A three-time MVP, Ohtani had admitted to nerves about playing in front of a crowd — much less facing the NL East champions’ loaded lineup — known for tormenting fans through four hours of hell.
Phillies fans taunted Ohtani with elongated chants of “Shoooo-hei!” as he gamely tried to match the moment for the Dodgers.
“I was a little nervous imagining myself out there on the mound,” Ohtani said. ”But once I was on the mound and on the field, that went away and it was really me focusing.”
Ohtani led off the game at the plate and struck out on three pitches against Cristopher Sánchez. Ohtani was called out on strikes in the third and fifth.
Ohtani whiffed again in the seventh with no outs and two runners on against Matt Strahm. Following a Mookie Betts popout, Hernández silenced a roaring Phillies crowd with an opposite-field homer to right off Strahm for a 5-3 lead.
Ohtani struck out three times against Sánchez for the second time this season. Only two other pitchers this season fanned Ohtani three times in a game.
He’s been mired in a career hitting funk in Philly.
In the regular season, Ohtani has yet to hit any of his 250 homers in Philadelphia. He’s batting .250 lifetime in Citizens Bank Park with just two extra-base hits and four RBIs over 12 games and 44 at-bats. He’s struck out 16 times.
The Japanese sensation didn’t pitch for the Dodgers last season while recovering from a second elbow surgery, in September 2023. He still became the first player with at least 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases as the Dodgers won the World Series over the New York Yankees.
The 31-year-old Ohtani has slowly built up his pitch count this year and struck out 62 batters over 47 innings with a 2.87 ERA in 14 regular-season starts.
The Dodgers hope a day off before Game 2 on Monday night can help Ohtani with the rest he needs to make a strong return for a potential Game 4 or Game 5 start.
“I think, for Sho, we can’t even begin to fathom what it’s like to do both things, especially with the added intensity of the postseason,” Dodgers president Andrew Friedman said before the game. “I think getting a day off between Games 1 and 2, after Game 2, I think it’s all helpful. There’s no question it’s taxing. It’s taxing on everybody. And then you layer on his ability to do both, and it’s challenging.”
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
