PHILADELPHIA — PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 Shohei Ohtani struck out not once, twice, three times but four \u2014 four! \u2014 straight times and almost snuffed a late Dodgers rally.<\/p>\n
The Oh-4 nearly cost Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Good news for the Dodgers, Ohtani the ace was about as good as he needed to be on the mound \u2014 with a little pop from teammate Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez to help along the way \u2014 for the two-way star to win his playoff pitching debut.<\/p>\n
With more than 45,000 Phillies fans against him, Ohtani settled down after a three-run second to strike out nine over six innings and lead the Dodgers to a 5-3 win over Philadelphia<\/a> on Saturday night in Game 1 of their NL Division Series.<\/p>\n Ohtani retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced, and the right-hander held Trea Turner, NL home run and RBI champion Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper to 0 for 9 with five strikeouts against him.<\/p>\n Even when Ohtani’s bat went cold, he warmed up over 89 pitches in a deep outing for him.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason why I\u2019m a two-way player is because that\u2019s who I am, and it\u2019s what I can do,\u201d Ohtani said through a translator.<\/p>\n Hern\u00e1ndez rallied the Dodgers with a three-run homer<\/a> after Ohtani struck out with two runners on base in the seventh inning, and three Los Angeles relievers combined for three scoreless innings.<\/p>\n Alex Vesia retired pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa with the bases loaded in the eighth to preserve the lead. Roki Sasaki worked the ninth for his first career save.<\/p>\n Ohtani and Sasaki are the first Japanese-born starter and reliever to earn a win and a save in the same postseason game.<\/p>\n \u201cThis epitomizes compartmentalizing. He\u2019s essentially two people in one night, in one game,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cTo 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 inning. And to go out there and give us six innings, keep us in the ballgame, I just don\u2019t know any human that can manage that, those emotions, and how do you not take that to the mound? So, yeah, we continue to just witness history.\u201d<\/p>\n Ohtani stepped on the field shortly before the first playoff start of his career and was booed so voraciously by Phillies fans, they drowned out the hype video playing on the big screen.<\/p>\n