Teoscar Hernández hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning and Shohei Ohtani and three relievers, two of whom were starters in the regular season, shut out the Philadelphia Phillies over the final 7 1/3 innings in the Dodgers’ 5-3 victory in Game 1 of their National League Division Series Saturday evening in Philadelphia.
Hernández hit a 1-0 four-seam fastball from Matt Strahm 394 feet over the right center field fence to give the Dodgers their first lead.
Hernández’s 9 RBIs are the third-most in a team’s first three games of a postseason, behind Nomar Garciaparra, who had 10 with the Boston Red Sox in 1998, and Reggie Sanders, who had 10 with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005, according to Sarah Langs, a researcher with Major League Baseball.
Hernández has hit three home runs in the Dodgers’ three 2025 postseason games. He hit two home runs in Tuesday’s 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of an NL Wild Card Series.
Ohtani (1-0) allowed three runs and three hits in six innings, striking out nine and walking one in his postseason pitching debut as he became the first player to start at least one game as pitcher and at least one as a non-pitcher in a single postseason, according to Langs.
The six innings match Ohtani’s high in his 14 regular-season starts.
Roki Sasaki was credited with his first save in his four relief appearances in Major League Baseball by retiring three of the four batters he faced in the ninth inning, including striking out leadoff hitter J.T. Realmuto on four pitches.
David Robertson, the second of five Philadelphia pitchers, was charged with the loss for allowing a single by Andy Pages and hitting Will Smith with a pitch before Strahm allowed Hernández’s home run, driving them in.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series will be played Monday, also in Philadelphia.
The Phillies scored three runs in the second. Alex Bohm, their leadoff hitter, drew a full-count walk on six pitches. The next batter, Brandon Marsh, who began his major league career in 2021 with the Angels, singled him to second.
Realmuto followed with a triple, driving in Bohm and Marsh. After Max Kepler grounded out for the first out, Realmuto scored on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly in front of a crowd at Citizens Bank Park announced at 45,777.
The Dodgers began chipping away at the lead in the sixth. Kiké Hernandez doubled in Freddie Freeman, who walked, and Tommy Edman, who singled, both with two outs.
Tyler Glasnow made his first relief appearance since 2018 when he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates, entering the game to begin the bottom of the seventh, replacing Ohtani.
Realmuto, the first batter Glasnow faced, reached base on a throwing error by Max Muncy, the Dodger first baseman. Glasnow then induced Kepler to fly out to Kiké Hernandez, the Dodgers’ left fielder, and pinch-hitter Nick Castellanos into an inning-ending double play.
Philadelphia loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth on a walk to Trea Turner, who played for the Dodgers in 2021 and 2022, a single by Bryce Harper and walk to Bohm. Alex Vesia relieved Glasnow, and retired pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa on a fly ball to Pages, the Dodgers’ center fielder.
In postseason history, teams to win Game 1 in any best-of-five series have gone on to win the series 113 of 156 times, 72.4%, according to Major League Baseball. In division series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams to win Game 1 on the road have advanced 34 of 46 times, 73.9%.
Major League Baseball issued the following statement in response to an email from City News Service asking about the Sunday off day: “There are competitive and broadcast considerations that are taken into account when building the postseason schedule. Last season American League clubs had the off day between Games 1 and 2 of the division series, and this year the National League clubs have this off day.”