Shohei Ohtani’s three-run home run helps Dodgers get past Padres in NLDS Game 1

The redemption tour started exactly as the Dodgers envisioned it, when they signed Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million contract in the offseason.

Featuring one of the superstar’s thunderous, undoubtedly game-changing home run swings.

One inning after their postseason opener on Saturday night, the Dodgers had nightmarish flashbacks to last year, finding themselves in another steep hole after yet another poor performance from their Game 1 starting pitcher.

The 53,028 towel-waving fans at Dodger Stadium were silenced. In the visiting dugout, the San Diego Padres were gaining momentum early.

Read more: NLDS Game 1: Summary of each inning

But then, in the kind of run that has eluded the Dodgers during their postseason failures in recent years, Ohtani stepped up to the plate and immediately wiped the slate clean in his first career playoff game.

In the Dodgers’ 7-5 victory in the opening game of this year’s National League Division Series, Ohtani hit a three-run home run to tie the game and erase the early deficit.

It gave the Dodgers life. It revitalized a sold-out crowd at Chavez Ravine. And most importantly, it set up what could be a crucial Game 1 victory, allowing the Dodgers to take an opening swing in this week’s best-of-five series.

The Dodgers didn’t take their first lead until the fourth inning on Saturday, when Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead two-run single to center field. Their lone run after that came on a careless throwing error by Manny Machado in the fifth.

But without Ohtani’s early explosion, there might not have been a mid-game plot twist.

After back-to-back postseasons in which the Dodgers failed to fight back in playoff games, Ohtani made sure Saturday would be different.

Down 3-0 after a three-run Padres first inning in which Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggled with his command and hung a two-strike splitter on Machado for a two-run homer, the Dodgers’ second-inning rally began at the bottom of the line-up. .

Will Smith drew a leadoff walk. Gavin Lux followed with a single. And with two on and two outs, the Padres had no choice but to pitch to Ohtani.

San Diego starter Dylan Cease started the at bat cautiously, throwing the first two pitches well outside the zone before Ohtani fouled a fastball from his knee. But after Ohtani dug back in, Cease challenged him with a raised heater, similar to the one that caused a flyout in Ohtani’s first at-bat.

This time the 30-year-old Japanese star was ready.

With a line-drive rocket that traveled 300 feet at nearly 110 mph, he cleared the fence in front of the right-field pavilion, one big swing that tied the score at 3-3.

The Padres briefly took the lead again in the third, when Yamamoto capped his three-inning start with two more runs on a Xander Bogaerts double.

But in the bottom of the fourth, the Dodgers responded again, rallying for three runs to take a 6–5 lead.

Read more: After recent skirmishes in October, Dodgers ‘want to be the ones attacking opposing pitchers’

That inning started with a bunt-single by Tommy Edman and a line-drive knock by Miguel Rojas. Ohtani broke his bat against left-handed reliever Adrian Morejon, but had enough behind him for a flare to center. Then, in a curious decision, the Padres decided to intentionally walk Mookie Betts on a 2-and-2 count, giving him first base after a wild pitch scored one run and allowed the other two runners to advance .

It seemed the hope was to draw a double play from Freddie Freeman, who was limited by a sprained ankle – and only given the green light to start the game a few hours before the first pitch – but still scored two goals produced. hits and a stolen base.

Freeman did hit a grounder, but it was so soft that first baseman Donovan Solano had no choice but to throw home for a force out.

With the inning extended, Hernández capitalized on the next at bat, feeding his two-run single past Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill in center to give the Dodgers the lead.

Six scoreless innings from the LA bullpen kept the lead from changing hands again.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.