PHILADELPHIA — Like a guilty husband bringing home flowers in hopes of escaping the doghouse, Teoscar Hernandez made up for his misbehavior with an even better gift.
Hernandez’s poor effort on defense cost the Dodgers a run. That run looked like it might be the difference in Game 1 of their National League Division Series with the Philadelphia Phillies – until Hernandez produced a three-run home run in the seventh inning that propelled the Dodgers to a 5-3 comeback win on Saturday night.
The best-of-five series will go dark on Sunday – the Super Bowl champion Eagles are hosting the Denver Broncos across the street at Lincoln Financial Field, tush-pushing the MLB playoffs out of the neighborhood. Game 2 is Monday at 3 p.m. PT.
The gates of Citizens Bank Park were open for business on Wednesday night as the Phillies held an intrasquad scrimmage, trying to stave off the staleness of a five-day break. That became a very well-attended practice in Allen Iverson’s former town – practice? – when 31,000 fans showed up.
The atmosphere was even better Saturday. A sellout crowd made plenty of noise without Dr. Ken screaming at them from the scoreboard or speaker volume threatening to put another crack in the Liberty Bell.
The Phillies responded by getting to Shohei Ohtani for three runs in the second inning of his first postseason pitching start.
Ohtani lit the fuse by walking Alec Bohm to start the inning then gave up a single to Brandon Marsh – the Phillies’ first hit after six no-hit innings against Ohtani (five in his September start against them).
Both runners scored when J.T. Realmuto lined a triple into the right-center field gap. The ball went to the wall – but it shouldn’t have. Teoscar Hernandez’s lackluster effort at cutting the ball off led to a third run when Realmuto scored from third on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly.
Ohtani allowed just one more hit in six innings and held the Phillies’ dangerous duo of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hitless in six at-bats against him, including four strikeouts.
Hernandez’s faulty throttle was the difference when the Dodgers finally got to Sanchez in the sixth inning.
They put two runners on against the Phillies left-hander in the second inning but came up empty when Andy Pages struck out. But they had just two hits through the first five innings before Freddie Freeman drew a two-out walk in the sixth.
Tommy Edman singled to put two runners on for Kiké Hernandez, who added another chip to his reputation as a clutch performer in October with a two-run double down the left field line, Edman roaring through third base coach Dino Ebel’s “stop” sign to score.
That left the Dodgers down one run – Teoscar’s run.
Kiké Hernandez’s double did more than provide offense. It also drove Sanchez from the game.
With veteran setup man David Robertson on the mound in the seventh, Pages led off with a single and Robertson clipped Will Smith with a pitch to put two runners on.
Left-hander Matt Strahm came in and struck out Ohtani – Ohtani’s fourth strikeout of the game, the third on a called third strike. Strahm got Mookie Betts to pop out for the second out.
At one point this season, the Dodgers started batting Teoscar Hernandez ahead of Freeman against left-handed pitching. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it the “Teo tax” – opposing managers who brought in lefties to face Ohtani would have to leave them in to face both Betts and Hernandez if they also wanted the left-on-left matchup against Freeman.
That tax was costly Saturday night when Strahm’s 91.8 mph fastball to Hernandez caught too much of the plate. Hernandez lined it into right field seats for his second three-run home run of the postseason – and 394 feet of restitution.
That left nine outs for the Dodgers’ bullpen to get with a two-run lead. Tyler Glasnow got the first five but handed the ball off to Alex Vesia with the bases loaded in the eighth. Vesia got pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa to fly out to center field and squash that threat.
Roberts turned to Roki Sasaki to close out the second consecutive game – but in his first save situation. Max Kepler doubled with one out but Sasaki closed it out.
More to come on this story.