LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez each hit a pair of home runs, Blake Snell went seven strong innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers finished off a 10-5 victory in Game 1 of a National League wild-card series against the visiting Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.
Tommy Edman added his own home run as the defending champion Dodgers moved a victory away from a matchup with the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series.
The Dodgers’ five home runs tied a franchise record for a playoff game.
Snell (1-0) gave up two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts in his first playoff start since 2022 as a member of the San Diego Padres.
Reds right-hander Hunter Green (0-1) gave up five runs on six hits with three home runs as the Reds continue to search for their first playoff victory since 2012. Elly De La Cruz drove in two runs and scored one for Cincinnati.
The Reds’ offense came to life with all five runs over the final three innings.
Ohtani turned around a 100.4-mph fastball from Green in the opening inning with a line-drive home run that came off the bat at 117.7 mph.
Los Angeles took control in the third when Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy walked with one out and Hernandez hit a home run to left field for a 4-0 lead. Edman followed two pitches later with his own home run down the right-field line.
In the fifth, Hernandez added his second home run, this one off Connor Phillips for a 6-0 advantage. It was his second career multi-homer game in the postseason (2022).
Ohtani added his second homer in the sixth, also against Phillips, for his first postseason multi-homer game. Ohtani’s power display came after a 55-homer regular season that broke his own franchise record set last season.
De La Cruz got the Reds on the scoreboard in the seventh with an RBI grounder before scoring on a Tyler Stephenson double. The Dodgers got the runs right back on an error by Reds right fielder Noelvi Marte and a single from Ben Rortvedt.
The wayward Dodgers bullpen struggled in its first inning of the playoffs as Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer all pitched in the eighth, combining to allow three runs with four walks. The Reds’ Sal Stewart and De La Cruz each had a bases-loaded walk.
–By Doug Padilla, Field Level Media
–Field Level Media
