How the Dodgers saved Shohei Ohtani, not the other

PHILADELPHIA — On the mound, he self-destructed in a second inning that practically positioned the sport out of his crew’s attain.

In the batter’s box, he struck out 4 occasions for only the seventh time in his profession.

A two-way participant for the first time in a postseason sport, Shohei Ohtani didn’t save the Dodgers on Saturday night time.

Instead, Ohtani was the one being saved in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of their National League Division Series.

He was saved by Tyler Glasnow, Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki, who mixed to shut down the deadly Phillies lineup over the last three innings.

He was saved by a two-run double by Kike Hernández in the sixth inning that diminished their deficit to 3-2.

He was saved by a three-run blast by Teoscar Hernández in the seventh that moved them in entrance, 5-3.

Ohtani said in Japanese of Hernandez’s go-ahead homer: “It was a wonderful moment. I think it was the kind of moment that made you think, ‘This is the postseason.’”

The victory cleared a path for the Dodgers to defend a World Series title that once felt indefensible. By stealing the highway win crucial to advance, the Dodgers have taken control of this best-of-five collection against the Phillies, who could possibly be the biggest impediment in their World Series protection.

The Dodgers ought to have the edge in beginning pitching over the next two video games, as Blake Snell is scheduled to start Game 2 on Monday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

If a fifth sport is required to determine this NLDS, Ohtani shall be in a position to pitch on six-days’ relaxation.

Who may have imagined the Dodgers could be in this place after a sport in which Ohtani staggered through a three-run second inning that left him trying as if he was eaten alive by the notoriously hostile Citizens Bank Park crowd?

“He’s not always going to be perfect,” Roberts said.

That being said, Roberts was fast to level out Ohtani’s contributions.

How after that brutal second inning, Ohtani pitched 4 scoreless innings to keep the Dodgers within putting distance. How Ohtani confirmed bunt and stepped out of the batter’s box in his ninth-inning at-bat as half of a plan to buy more time for Sasaki to heat up to close the sport.

Ohtani sounded significantly proud of how he struck out NL home run king Kyle Schwarber for the third out of the fifth inning. The Phillies stranded two runners.

“I think it might have been a scene that decided the direction of the game,” Ohtani said.

The Dodgers scored two runs in the next innings and three in the inning after that.

“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 [second] inning and to go out there and give us six innings and keep us in the ballgame, I just don’t know any human that can manage those emotions,” Roberts said.

The comeback was crucial because of a second inning that began with a stroll by Alec Bohm. Midway through the at-bat of the next hitter, Brandon Marsh, the Citizens Bank Park crowd began to taunt Ohtani.

Sho-hei!

Sho-hei!

Marsh singled. Ohtani responded by reaching back and throwing a 100.2-mph fastball over the coronary heart of the plate to J.T. Realmuto, who launched a rocket into right-center area.

Heavy-footed proper fielder Teoscar Hernandez failed to cut off the ball, which skipped to the outfield wall. Bohm and Marsh scored.

Realmuto reached third and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Harrison Bader.

Just like that, the Dodgers had been down, 3-0.

This was not the start envisioned by the Dodgers, who set up Ohtani to be the star of this collection.

The Dodgers didn’t ship Ohtani to the mound in either of their two video games of the earlier spherical against the Cincinnati Reds.

By beginning Snell and Yamamoto in the wild-card collection, the Dodgers had been in a position to save Ohtani for Game 1 of their collection against the more formidable Phillies.

The Dodgers entered the NLDS reveling in the historical past about to be made by Ohtani, the most priceless participant as a designated hitter last season back in the October highlight to pitch in the postseason for the first time.

“I think as he takes the mound for the bottom half [of the first inning], I’m going to take a moment just to appreciate him doing something unprecedented,” Roberts said before the sport.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman went as far to make the case that Ohtani was underrated.

“I just don’t think the human brain can comprehend what he does and how difficult it is and how he is elite at both,” Friedman said. “The passion he has for hitting and the passion he has for pitching, it doesn’t seem like there’s enough passion to go around, but there is with him.”

Ohtani didn’t pitch last season as he was recovering from an elbow operation he underwent in 2023. Friedman recalled the diligence with which he rehabilitated.

“It wasn’t just about pitching for him,” Friedman said. “It was about pitching really well.”

Ohtani didn’t pitch rather well on Saturday night time, but he could have a probability to pitch rather well in the days and weeks forward.

His crew gifted him the alternative.