Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer in his postseason debut, Teoscar Hernández’s two-run single gave Los Angeles its first lead in a playoff game in two years, and the Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres 7-5 in their NL Division Series opener Saturday.
Manny Machado's two-run homer off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, also making his first playoff appearance, put Los Angeles in an early 3-0 hole.
Ohtani quickly bailed out the Dodgers with his two-out homer that tied it 3-all in the second inning. The Japanese superstar went deep with fans chanting “MVP! MVP!” His shot travelled 372 feet to right field, the sellout crowd of 53,028 recording it all on their phones.
San Diego went ahead 5-3 before the Dodgers rallied with three runs in the fourth.
Tommy Edman scored on a wild pitch by reliever Adrian Morejon, who took the loss. Ohtani had a broken-bat single and later scored, along with Mookie Betts, on Hernández’s single off Jeremiah Estrada that put the Dodgers ahead 6-5.
It was their first lead in a postseason game since the seventh inning of Game 4 against the Padres in the 2022 NLDS. Los Angeles was swept by Arizona in a Division Series last year.
Trailing 7-5, the Padres had the potential tying runs on base with two outs in the ninth. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled off Blake Treinen before Jurickson Profar walked to bring up Machado, who struck out swinging.
Mets rally again for another win
Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo sparked another comeback in New York’s electric run through the National League playoffs, helping the Mets score five runs in the eighth inning against a pair of All-Star relievers as they rallied for a 6-2-win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their Division Series.
Phillies ace Zack Wheeler struck out nine and limited the Mets to just one hit over the first seven innings but was lifted after a startling 30 swings-and-misses over 111 pitches.
New York then pounced on Philadelphia relievers Jeff Hoffman and Matt Strahm in the eighth.
In true Mets fashion this October, the Mets had to rally, not just on the scoreboard, but on a gut-check in each at-bat.
Francisco Alvarez hit a leadoff single against Hoffman before three straight batters reached base after facing 0-2 counts. Francisco Lindor worked a walk from his 0-2 count and Vientos followed with a tying single. Nimmo laced a go-ahead single off Strahm past a drawn-in infield for the 2-1 lead.
After Pete Alonso lofted a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead, Jose Iglesias singled and J.D. Martinez greeted Orion Kerkering with an RBI single. Starling Marte’s sacrifice fly capped the uprising.
The Mets have scored 18 runs in the eighth and ninth innings over six games since Monday. New York joined the 1980 Phillies and 1999 Mets as the only teams to win consecutive playoff games after trailing in the eighth inning or later.
Verdugo lifts Yankees over Royals
Alex Verdugo hit a tiebreaking single in the seventh inning and saved at least one run with a sliding catch along the left-field line, boosting the New York Yankees to a 6-5 win over the Kansas City Royals in their AL Division Series opener.
New York’s Gleyber Torres and Kansas City’s MJ Melendez hit two-run homers in a back-and-forth game in which the Royals wasted leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 and the Yankees failed to hold 2-1 and 4-3 margins.
Kansas City pitchers tied its season high with eight walks, forcing in a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Yankees were just 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position before Verdugo lined a single off loser Michael Lorenzen to make it 6-5.
Verdugo’s hit scored Jazz Chisholm Jr., who singled leading off and stole second on a play allowed to stand following a video review. Yankees manager Aaron Boone started Verdugo in left over rookie Jasson Domínguez in a defense-influenced decision. Verdugo entered the game in a 2-for-34 skid at the plate.
With the Yankees trailing 3-2, Verdugo made a sliding catch on Michael Massey’s fourth-inning fly just inside the line to strand two runners. The ball hit Verdugo’s right wrist just below his glove and bounced off his chest before he grabbed it with his bare left hand.
Four Yankees relievers combined to allow only an unearned run over four innings after ace Gerrit Cole allowed four runs in five-plus innings. Clay Holmes, dropped from his closer’s job last month, worked 1 2/3 innings for the win. Luke Weaver got four straight outs with three strikeouts for the save in his postseason debut.
Yankees star Aaron Judge went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, and Royals standout Bobby Witt Jr. was 0 for 5, barking at plate umpire Adam Hamari after a called third strike in the ninth.
Guardians strike quick, blank Tigers
Lane Thomas highlighted a five-run first inning with a three-run homer and the Cleveland Guardians unleashed their lights-out bullpen to complete a four-hitter in a 7-0 win over the Tigers in an AL Division Series opener.
Thomas' shot - on his first career postseason swing – off reliever Reese Olson helped the Guardians cool off the Tigers, who stormed into the playoffs with a second-half surge before sweeping AL West champion Houston in the wild-card round.
Tanner Bibee pitched 4 2/3 innings before Guardians manager Stephen Vogt swung the door open to baseball's best bullpen to finish off the Tigers.
Cleveland's relievers combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings to finish and match the largest shutout victory margin in club postseason history. Detroit struck out 13 times and didn't get a runner past first in the final four innings.
The shutout was the worst in Detroit playoff history since Game 1 of the 1945 World Series.
Cleveland's bullpen was as advertised. Rookie Cade Smith replaced Bibee and struck out all four batters. Tim Herrin fanned two in the seventh, Hunter Gaddis pitched the eighth, and Emmanuel Clase, who led the AL with 47 saves, worked the ninth.
David Fry added a two-run double for the AL Central champion Guardians, who were unaffected by not playing for almost a week with a first-round bye.