PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez wouldn\u2019t stop screaming at the top of his lungs.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers\u2019 outfielder, moments removed from hammering a go-ahead, game-winning big fly,<\/a> bounded down the visitors dugout at Citizens Bank Park through a tunnel of coaches and teammates, a revelrous procession shaded blue. They showered him with sunflower seeds, a post-homer team tradition that Hern\u00e1ndez himself inaugurated. And as he worked his way through the congratulatory receiving line, he yelled and yelled and yelled.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n To nobody in particular and to everyone in the building.<\/p>\n Before his game-altering, seventh-inning swing in Game 1 of the NLDS<\/a>, Hern\u00e1ndez was having quite the difficult night at the plate Saturday \u2014 three trips to the dish, three strikeouts against Phillies starter Cristopher S\u00e1nchez. The lanky southpaw worked Hern\u00e1ndez at the bottom rail of the strike zone and below it, conjuring six swing-and-misses from Los Angeles\u2019 No. 3 hitter. But a string of hits in the sixth hooked S\u00e1nchez from the ballgame, setting up a showdown one inning later between Hern\u00e1ndez and left-handed reliever Matt Strahm, with the Dodgers trailing 3-2.<\/p>\n And with two down and two on, Strahm made a critical mistake. The intended target for his fastball was inside, under Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s hands. Instead, Strahm\u2019s heater leaked over the heart of the plate. That allowed the 32-year-old outfielder to get his arms extended and drive a ball deep and gone to right-center field for his third long ball of this nascent postseason.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, at the end of the day, for me, anything that happened before a big moment like that, it’s in the past,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said after the game. \u201cI try to put it in the trash and just focus on the things that I need to do in that at-bat.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s blast completed an impressive, three-run comeback for the Dodgers, who knocked off the hosting Phillies 5-3 in Game 1<\/a>. Philadelphia pounced on L.A. starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani, making the first postseason outing of his comically accomplished career<\/a>, for three runs in the second. J.T. Realmuto\u2019s opposite-field triple plated the first two, sending Citizens Bank Park into a pandemonium.<\/p>\n But then Ohtani, who threw 15 four-seam fastballs 99 mph or faster, got himself and his night back on the rails. He kept the score close through the middle innings, carving through the Phillies\u2019 lineup like a machete through jello. He was particularly effective against the top of the order; Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper were a collective 0-for-9 with five strikeouts against him. Vitally, Ohtani was efficient, a blessing for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, whose bullpen has become the club\u2019s glaring Achilles\u2019 heel<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI use the word compartmentalize a lot. But this epitomizes compartmentalizing,\u201d Roberts said of Ohtani after the win. \u201cHe’s essentially two people in one night, in one game. To 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 inning and to go out there and give us six innings, keep us in the ball game \u2026 I just don’t know any human that can manage that, those emotions, and how do you not take that to the mound?<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cSo, yeah, we continue to just witness history.\u201d<\/p>\n