Category: MLB

More than four years after the family of deceased Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs filed a wrongful death suit against the Angels, jury selection will begin Monday in Orange County Superior Court.

Skaggs' widow Carli Skaggs and parents Debra Hetman and Darrell Skaggs stated in a court filing that they seek at least $210 million in lost earnings and damages. A lawyer for the Angels said in a pretrial hearing that the plaintiffs now seek a judgment of $1 billion, although the lead attorney representing the family said the number is an exaggeration.

The trial is expected to last several weeks. Pretrial discovery included more than 50 depositions and the witness list contains nearly 80 names.

Lawyers for the Skaggs family aim to establish that the Angels were responsible for the death of the 27-year-old left-handed pitcher on July 1, 2019, after he snorted crushed pills that contained fentanyl in a hotel room during a team road trip in Texas.

An autopsy concluded Skaggs accidentally died of asphyxia after aspirating his own vomit while under the influence of fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol.

Angels communications director Eric Kay provided Skaggs with counterfeit oxycodone pills that turned out to be laced with fentanyl and is serving 22 years in federal prison for his role in the death. Skaggs' lawyers will try to prove that other Angels employees knew Kay was providing opioids to Skaggs.

Read more:Tyler Skaggs' family sues Angels over pitcher's death

“The Angels owed Tyler Skaggs a duty to provide a safe place to work and play baseball,” the lawsuit said. “The Angels breached their duty when they allowed Kay, a drug addict, complete access to Tyler. The Angels also breached their duty when they allowed Kay to provide Tyler with dangerous illegal drugs. The Angels should have known Kay was dealing drugs to players. Tyler died as a result of the Angels’ breach of their duties.”

The Skaggs family planned to call numerous current and former Angels players as witnesses, including future Hall of Famers Mike Trout and Albert Pujols as well as pitcher Andrew Heaney — Skaggs' best friend on the team — in an attempt to show that Skaggs was a fully functioning major league pitcher and not an addict.

Pretrial filings and hearings indicated that the Angels were attempting to show that Skaggs was a longtime drug user who acquired pills from sources other than Kay. Skaggs' mother, Debbie Hetman, testified during Kay's 2022 criminal trial that her son admitted he had an “issue” with oxycodone as far back as 2013.

Hetman said her son quit "cold turkey" but she testified the addiction remained enough of a concern that Skaggs wasn’t prescribed opioids after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2014.

Judge H. Shaina Colover dashed a key Angels defense strategy when she ruled that Kay’s criminal conviction could not be disputed during the civil trial. Angels attorney Todd Theodora contended that new evidence indicated Skaggs died of a “cardiac arrhythmia, second to the fact that Tyler had 10 to 15 drinks in him, coupled with the oxycodone, for which Angels baseball is not responsible.”

Read more:Eric Kay found guilty of supplying drugs that led to death of Angels' Tyler Skaggs

Theodora said that if the Angels could prove Kay was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, neither Kay nor the team would be culpable in Skaggs’ death. Colover, however, ruled that Kay's "conviction, based on applicable law and facts, was final." Kay's appeal was denied in federal court in November 2023.

Pretrial depositions of Angels players and support personnel provided a rare glimpse into the rowdy, often profane culture of a major league clubhouse.

Angels clubhouse attendants testified that Kay participated in stunts such as purposely taking an 85-mph fastball off his knee in the batting cage, having a pitcher throw a football at his face from short range, eating a bug and eating pimples off the back of Trout.

Tim Mead, the Angels longtime vice president of communication and Kay's supervisor, acknowledged as much in his deposition, saying, "If you try to describe a clubhouse or a locker room in professional sports, or even college, and probably even the military in terms, and try to equate it to how we see — how this law firm is run or a corporation is run, you know, unfortunately, there's not lot of comparison.... There's a lot of fun, there's a lot of release."

And a lot of painkillers. Former Angels players Matt Harvey, C.J. Cron, Mike Morin and Cam Bedrosian testified at Kay's trial that he distributed blue 30 milligram oxycodone pills to them at Angel Stadium. Skaggs, testimony revealed, was a particularly frequent customer.

Read more:Tyler Skaggs' death revisited as MLB partners with White House to reduce opioid overdoses

Testimony established that Kay was also a longtime user of oxycodone and that the Angels knew it. In a filing, the Skaggs family showed evidence that Angels team physician Craig Milhouse prescribed Kay Hydrocodone 15 times from 2009 to 2012. The Skaggs family also plans to call Trout, who according to the deposition of former Angels clubhouse attendant Kris Constanti, offered to pay for Kay’s drug rehabilitation in 2018.

Skaggs was a top prospect coming out of Santa Monica High in 2009, and the Angels made him their first-round draft pick. He was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks a year later and made his major league debut with them in 2012.

Traded back to the Angels in 2014, Skaggs made the starting rotation, where he remained when not battling injuries until his death. His numbers were rather ordinary, a 28-38 win-loss record with a 4.41 earned-run average in 96 career starts, but his lawyers pointed to his youth and the escalating salaries given to starting pitchers in asking for a jury award of at least $210 million and as much as $785 million.

Skaggs earned $9.2 million — including $3.7 million in 2019 — and would have become a free agent after the 2020 season. Effective starting pitchers at a similar age and comparable performance can command multi-year contracts of $100 million or more.

Skaggs' death prompted MLB to begin testing for opioids and cocaine in 2020, but only players who do not cooperate with their treatment plans are subject to discipline. Marijuana was removed from the list of drugs of abuse and is treated the same as alcohol.

MLB emergency medical procedures now require that naloxone be stored in clubhouses, weight rooms, dugouts and umpire dressing rooms at all ballparks. Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, is an antidote for opioid poisoning.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Max Fried has made two starts for the Yankees this postseason and they both couldn't have gone more different.

After 6.1 scoreless innings against the Red Sox in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, the left-hander returned for Game 2 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays and allowed seven earned runs in 3.0+ innings.

The poor performance put New York in a tough spot, both in the game and also the series as they return to Yankee Stadium on the verge of elimination.

"They obviously had a really good approach," Fried said. "They were on a lot of my pitches and credit to them. I didn’t get it done and it’s frustrating, especially coming out in a game like this and needed to have a good one."

Following the embarrassing Game 1 loss on Saturday, New York and Fried were hoping to get some revenge on Sunday. However, it was just more of the same with Toronto scoring 13 runs on 15 hits a day after it put up 10 runs on 14 hits.

As for the Yankees' offense, it couldn't figure out Blue Jays rookie starter Trey Yesavage who blanked New York over 5.1 hitless innings while striking out 11. It was only after Yesavage left the game when the Yanks were able to score, pushing across seven runs in the sixth and seventh innings. 

Of course, the late burst of offense wasn't enough with the damage already done, but it was a good sign after New York managed to score just once on Saturday.

"Yeah it was tough," said Aaron Judge about Yesavage. "First time seeing him. He was making his pitches, kinda keeping us in between a little bit there all night. We kinda got it going there late, but at that point it’s a little too late. We saw him now, take it back home and we’ve been playing with our backs against the wall all year long so it’s nothing new for us."

The Yankees will now need to win three in a row to advance to the ALCS. That daunting task will start on Tuesday with Carlos Rodón on the hill.

As for Fried, the team will still need to rely on him if it does end up pushing the series to a Game 5. If that's the case, Fried, who has been New York's ace all season, will be ready.

"We’re a good team," Fried said. "Two games doesn’t mean anything. We still have the ability to go out there and win three in a row and win the series so we still gotta believe."

Manager Aaron Boone is also optimistic about his team's chances despite facing elimination. 

"Baseball’s a funny game," he said. "I know we’ll show up and be ready to go expecting to win Tuesday night. Obviously feels like the world is caving in around you and you lose two games like that in their building where it doesn’t go right, but all of a sudden you go out there and win a ballgame on Tuesday, the needle can change. 

"There’s been a lot of weird things that have happened in baseball this year, this would not be the weirdest, us rallying.

To the Yankees credit, they staved off elimination twice in the Wild Card Series against Boston after losing Game 1 (and wasting Fried's gem). Now they'll have to do it three more times against another division rival who has had their number this year (9-5; 7-1 at home).

The good news? New York went 4-2 against Toronto at Yankee Stadium this season and has historically played well against the Blue Jays at home.

"We got experience," Judge said. "We got guys in here who’ve been to the World Series, in some tough moments, backs up against the wall, especially all season long so we just gotta show up and do our thing."

"We’re ready to go," Fried said. "Obviously had a rough showing here and obviously we’d rather be up 2-0 than down 2-0, but we have a lot of faith in this club and if there’s anyone who can win three in a row, we did down the stretch and we believe in each other here."

TORONTO -- J.C. Escarra was the only Yankee who had seen it. He was the only one who knew how difficult it was to face that split-fingered pitch from the highest release point in baseball.

On Aug. 21, playing for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Escarra faced the Buffalo Bisons’ Trey Yesavage and struck out twice. None of his teammates had faced Yesavage, who made his MLB debut on Sept. 15. Escarra spoke in the Yankees’ hitters meeting prior to Yesavage’s Game 2 gem.

“I just let the team know what I saw,” Escarra told SNY after the 13-7 loss to the Blue Jays that put the Yanks in an 0-2 series hole. “I think with him, you take out the arm angle [and] it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, you know? But you throw in the height [6-foot-4] and the angle that he throws from, that is what gives the deception that plays off the splitter.

“As guys get more comfortable against that arm angle, I think we’ll do better.”

We bring this up not to review Game 2 but to light a path for the Yankees to take this series. In order to win, they’ll have to once again deal with Yesavage and Game 1 winner Kevin Gausman. In those losses, the team picked up a few insights on how to be more successful next time.

Carlos Rodon must beat the Jays on Tuesday in New York to extend the season. Cam Schlittler needs to do the same on Wednesday. Let’s cut right to the potential game that will be necessary for the Yanks’ season to progress past this week.

In Game 5 in Toronto on Friday, Max Fried would likely face some combination of a rested Gausman and Yesavage (Gausman would be on regular rest on Thursday, an off day; Yesavage would on Friday).

If facing Gausman as a starter, the Yankees’ adjustment will be straightforward. They should swap Ben Rice at first base for Paul Goldschmidt. Manager Aaron Boone started Rice in Game 1 because Rice earned it by becoming an elite MLB hitter this year. But Rice struggled against Gausman’s splitter, a tough pitch for a left-handed hitter.

Goldschmidt is 10-for-22 lifetime against Gausman, with a .636 slugging percentage. And as one scout put it, “Goldy is good against soft” -- like the splitter.

The solution for Yesavage -- like Escarra suggested -- is experience. Not only was he facing the Yankees for the first time on Saturday, but the team’s hitters were uniquely unable to prepare for him.

The Yanks are one of many teams to use a Trajekt Arc pitching machine, which uses artificial intelligence tools to mimic the pitches and mechanics of opponents. This is particularly useful against unfamiliar pitchers -- and particularly used against an uncommonly high release point.

The Yankees clinched the Wild Card Series against Boston late on Thursday, then flew to Boston for a workout day on Friday. The Trajekt is too big to travel, and home teams do not make their machines available to visitors. There was no time to practice against the Trajekt version of Yesavage.

When I noted this on Twitter during the game, the reporter Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet in Toronto noted in a quote tweet that “this was part of the reason why it made sense for the Blue Jays to start Yesavage at home, and start the more experienced Shane Bieber @ NYY.”

Kyle Boddy, the founder of the influential Driveline Baseball pitching company, added, “This sounds like an excuse given the box score, but it’s a very real training tool for the best organizations. Still, Trajekt can’t perfectly mimic extreme release points - possibly including Yesavage (ex: has real trouble with Chris Sale).”

As one Yankee put it after the game, “Trajekt is objectively helpful, period.”

The Yankees were not looking to make excuses or cite the lack of Trajekt as the reason for their loss. This was my thought, not theirs. But it does speak to their chances of faring better against Yesavage on Friday, if they earn the chance.

As the Yankees’ postgame clubhouse was about to close on Sunday, I asked Giancarlo Stanton if the hitters would be more prepared for a second shot at Yesavage in particular because of the unique arm angle.

“Yes,” Stanton said without hesitation.

Then he offered a light admonishment of my premise. “That would be looking ahead,” Stanton said. “We’ve still got to win Tuesday first and get there.”

He was right, of course. But the road to the ALCS likely now goes through Gausman and Yesavage again.

Carlos Rodón says he’s enjoyed the heightened atmosphere October brings to the Bronx, how the fans are louder and the stakes so supercharged. “It’s a treat to be able to step on the mound in Yankee Stadium in the playoffs,” Rodón noted on Sunday.

He’ll be at his happy place on Tuesday, when he starts Game 3 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays and Shane Bieber. But Rodón will have to cope with more than just the enjoyable parts of pitching there in October, since this best-of-five series has gone dangerously haywire for the Yankees. 

With the Bombers down 0-2 and facing elimination, Rodón faces tremendous pressure to save the season. Or at least help extend it and give the Yanks more life. Can Rodón be the stopper that Max Fried wasn’t on Sunday?

We can’t possibly know until he takes the ball. But we do know this – the Yankees brought Rodón here for starts like this, to excel in big spots. He didn’t get a six-year, $162 million contract to be a mid-rotation piece who just sucks up innings. He needs signature starts, outings that fans will remember and, perhaps, even cite as an example for future Yankee teams pushed to the brink. 

After by far his best season as a Yankee, there’s plenty of evidence that Rodón can seize this moment. He was 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA in 33 starts, finishing second in the AL in wins and eighth in ERA. He’s awfully hard to get a hit against – he allowed 6.1 hits per nine innings, the best mark in the American League. Opponents batted .188 against him.

That means it’ll be fascinating to see how he fares against the Blue Jays, who had the most hits in the majors, and excel at putting the ball in play. Toronto had the lowest strikeout percentage in baseball, which means that Rodón might have to seek outs in different ways.

He acknowledged Sunday in the pre-game interview room, “I’ve always chased the strikeout.”

To his credit, though, Rodón also talked about how he’s watched Fried, a fellow lefty, rack up outs via weak contact. It made him weigh the merits of forcing contact to get quick outs, rather than slogging through a longer battle. We’ll see if he can apply that to the Blue Jays on Tuesday. 

“They're tough to strike out,” Rodón said. “They force action. They put the ball in play. They make teams play defense. They're pretty athletic. There's also slug within the lineup.

“And it makes it tough. There's times where you need a strikeout and just the miss isn't there.”

During the season, Rodón had a 3.60 ERA against Toronto, allowing six runs (four earned) in 10 innings. But he walked eight batters, a potential red flag for a start in which a few walks might lead to Yankee doom. 

Another potential reason for limited confidence in him – Rodón’s career postseason ERA is 6.15, including a 5.32 mark as a Yankee. Last year, he was so overamped in his first playoff start against the Royals, he could not get out of the fourth inning, despite starting with three scoreless innings, including a 1-2-3 first with three Ks. He had a terrific start against Cleveland in Game 1 of the ALCS, but was spotty in two outings afterward. 

He said earlier this postseason that he learned from those experiences. He has a 4.50 ERA so far this October, but lasted six innings against the Red Sox, enough to help the Yankees win Game 2. 

Starting pitching was such a huge part of the Yankees victory over Boston in the Wild Card series – the rotation had a 1.33 ERA. But the starters have been a main factor in the Yankees getting clobbered twice in a row in Toronto. Yankee starters have gotten a total of 17 outs (eight by Luis Gil, nine by Fried) in this series. In their combined 5.2 innings of work, they have a 14.29 ERA. 

That alarming trend must change in Game 3. A win could shift the whole feel of this series, especially with the way the Yankees fought back in Game 2, scoring seven runs in a two-inning span after falling way behind. Aaron Judge looked sharp at the plate; Giancarlo Stanton broke out a little, too. Perhaps the lineup is beginning to percolate. And wunderkind Cam Schlittler, who smothered the Red Sox in the last series, is slated to pitch Game 4.

But until the Yanks actually win a game, the series has, for them, a dark cloud hovering close. Elimination is looming and the Jays are 10-5 against the Yanks this year, though the Bombers were 4-2 against Toronto at the Stadium. 

When you sign a big free agent contract to come to New York, you’re expected to crave these moments. You’re expected to deliver, too. 

Rodón’s got a fascinating chance here. A big performance could ink him into Yankee lore alongside some pretty remarkable names. 

Can he seize the moment and save the Yanks, even if just for one more day?

The savages in the box were no match for rookie Trey Yesavage, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. blasted the first grand slam in Toronto history and the Blue Jays hammered the Yankees, 13-7, Sunday in Game 2 of their American League Division Series. 

The Blue Jays, who bullied Yankee starter Max Fried, are in full control of the series and can eliminate the Yankees when the best-of-five affair resumes Tuesday for Game 3 at Yankee Stadium. 

Toronto has outscored the Yankees, who had the best offense in baseball this season, 23-8, so far in the series, though the Yanks made a late charge to make the final deficit Sunday a tad more tidy. Perhaps that gives them some oomph heading into Game 3.

Here are the main takeaways...

-- It was a nightmare outing for Fried, who has been the Yankee ace all season. He had been so good in starts following a Yankee loss – 11-1, 1.82 ERA in 16 such starts – but he was no stopper on Sunday. Fried was charged with seven runs over three-plus innings while giving up eight hits, walking two and striking out one.

He allowed a two-run homer to the Jays’ Ernie Clement. It was a far cry from Fried’s first outing of the postseason – 6.1 scoreless frames against the Red Sox in last week’s playoff opener. Should the Yankees rally to force a Game 5, Fried would get another chance in this series – with two off-days between now and then, Fried could start on regular rest. You know, if. 

-- Guerrero had struggled in his first six games of postseason play in his career, but the Toronto star has changed that narrative in a hurry. He’s on fire in this series. After homering and going 3-for-4 in the opening game, he smashed the first grand slam in Jays' postseason history Sunday. His blast, measured at 111 mph off the bat, traveled 415 feet to left field and upped the Jays’ absurd lead to 9-0. Guerrero victimized Will Warren on the blast, crushing a 95.8-mph fastball. 

-- Daulton Varsho had a huge day for the Blue Jays, too. He doubled twice off Fried and homered twice off Warren. He might have been on cycle watch early in the game save for a scorer’s call on his first double. He ripped the ball down the right-field line, a sure extra-base hit, and the ball caromed off the side wall and Aaron Judge missed it. Varsho got to third because of that and he was credited with a double, advancing to third only because of what was scored an error on Judge. Varsho finished 4-for-5 with four RBI and four runs scored.

-- Yesavage, who turned 22 in July, is a great story. He was drafted in 2024 out of East Carolina and began this season in Single-A before ascending through four different levels of the Toronto system to reach the majors in September. He was just the third pitcher ever to make a postseason start within his first four MLB appearances, including the playoffs. Shane Baz (2021) and Matt Moore (2011), both of the Rays, are the others. 

Jays manager John Schneider said earlier in the series that he decided to have Yesavage pitch at home instead of Shane Bieber. Bieber, a veteran, would be more likely to handle a hostile environment at Yankee Stadium, so he’ll start Game 3 there on Tuesday. 

-- The Yankees were perhaps at an extreme disadvantage in that they had not seen Yesavage before and he has a distinctive arm angle with a high release point over the top. He was 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA in three September starts for the Jays and his plunging splitter is a marvel. It certainly was on Sunday when he used it to great effect – eight of his strikeouts were finished by a diving split. He got 18 swings-and-misses, according to Statcast, 11 of them on splitters. 

-- The Rogers Centre has been the Horror Centre for the Yankees this year. They are 1-8 at the Blue Jays’ nest and played some of their sloppiest baseball of the season there over the summer. But it wasn’t as humiliating as this. And the Yankees were the second-best road team in the majors this season, a fact that was overwhelmed by the Blue Jays being the AL’s top home team, apparently. 

-- The Yankees trailed, 12-0, entering the sixth inning before they finally got their first hit and got on the scoreboard. Judge broke through with an infield single and then Cody Bellinger smacked a two-run homer. Both came off reliever Justin Bruihl. It was the 10th postseason home run of Bellinger’s career. 

-- The Yankees scored five times in the seventh inning to creep closer. With the bases loaded and one out, Judge blooped an RBI single to center. Bellinger hit a ball down the left-field line that could have been big trouble, but Myles Straw made a terrific sliding catch near the side wall. Still, the Yanks got a run on what was a sac fly. Then Ben Rice whacked an RBI double and Giancarlo Stanton, who had been 2-for-18 in the series, hit a two-run single to left, drawing the Yankees within 13-7. 

-- George Springer homered for the Jays in the fifth inning, his 20th career postseason homer. That ties him with Derek Jeter for fifth all-time. 

-- Warren allowed six runs, including four home runs, on seven hits over 4.2 innings of relief. At the very least, he provided some bulk innings to give the Yankee bullpen some rest. Luke Weaver, who had not retired any of the six batters he’d faced so far in the postseason, got the final out of the eighth inning, inducing a flyout to left by Varsho. 

-- Judge (2-for-3) was on base four times for the Yanks, including two walks. He is batting .444 this postseason. 

Game MVP: Trey Yesavage

Yesavage, a righty who threw 5.1 scoreless innings and allowed no hits. He had 11 strikeouts – a Toronto record for a postseason game – and walked only one. Not bad for a guy who started the season in Single-A.

Highlights

The Yankees turn 2️⃣ and Max Fried gets out of trouble! pic.twitter.com/6rJGEktBzz

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 5, 2025

Cody Bellinger hits a two-run shot and the Yankees are on the board pic.twitter.com/eJF66qjkW6

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 5, 2025

Aaron Judge gets an RBI single pic.twitter.com/PcVweRg4H8

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 5, 2025

Ben Rice brings home the third Yankee run of the inning pic.twitter.com/LmMWGFhRqF

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 5, 2025

Giancarlo Stanton makes it 13-7 👀 pic.twitter.com/2XnrPjBvat

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) October 5, 2025

What's next

The Yankees and Blue Jays head to New York for Game 3 of the ALDS on Tuesday at 8:08 p.m.

Carlos Rodon (18-9, 3.09 ERA) will face Shane Bieber (4-2, 3.57 ERA) in the elimination game.

With little room for error, Phillies need a bounce-back against Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

So many thoughts, second guesses and Monday morning quarterback analysis when it comes to the Phillies’ crushing 5-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday.

This much we do know. The Phillies are in a must-win situation when the two teams reconvene on Monday for Game 2. Left-hander Jesús Luzardo will be looking to even the series when he faces Dodgers lefty Blake Snell. Since July 29, Luzardo has started 11 games and logged 69 2/3 innings and has posted a 2.84 ERA while giving up six home runs. He has struck out 80 during that time and the Phillies have gone 7-4 during those starts.

“It’s just another game, in reality,” said Luzardo, when asked if there’s any added pressure on him. “In the grand scheme of things, there’s been a lot of series this year where we ended up winning after losing game one, that we just bounce back and won two in a row. I think that’s the mentality that we have to take.

“Obviously, you want to get a win, it’s important to do that at home. I wouldn’t say there’s added pressure or anything. Just go out and play the game the way we know how to play it. We’ve been the best team in baseball at home so there’s a reason for that.”

Snell pitched the Wild Card Series opener against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday and went seven innings, struck out nine and allowed just four hits and two earned runs in a 10-5 Los Angeles win. In his last three regular season outings, the former Cy Young Award winner allowed one earned run over 19 innings, nine hits and struck out 28 and walked just four. To say he is hot right now would be a huge understatement.

 All the second guessing of using who and when out of the bullpen really doesn’t matter if the Phillies don’t come up with some timely hitting. The top three in their order – Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper – went 1-for-11 with a walk and six strikeouts in Saturday’s loss. In the fifth inning, with runners on first and second with one out and the Phillies leading 3-0, Turner softly lined out to shortstop and Schwarber struck out swinging on a 3-2 curveball from Shohei Ohtani.

In the seventh against reliever Tyler Glasnow, J.T. Realmuto reached base on an error by third baseman Max Muncy to lead off the inning, only to get stranded on a fly out by Max Kepler and a double play by pinch-hitter Nick Castellanos.

The Phillies loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth off Glasnow, but pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa flied out to deep center to end that threat. And after Kepler laced a one-out double to right in the ninth, Roki Sasaki was able to retire Castellanos and Bryson Stott to give the Dodgers the lead in the series.

“Yeah, especially the bottom part of the order I thought we really had pretty good at-bats all night long,” said Thomson. “The guys at the top, they pitched them tough, a lot of breaking balls. Ohtani was really tough on them. I thought that the guys at the bottom did a nice job.

“I don’t sense any extra pressure. I feel like they’re loose. We made a lot of good plays on defense last night. We pitched well. We just didn’t get the big hit when we needed. We had some chances. That’s the way it is. I think it’s just kind of the ebbs and flows of the game. We got to come out here tomorrow night and play well.”

There were chances, but the Phillies just never seemed to get that back-breaking hit after they scored three runs in the second inning, two on a triple by Realmuto on one more when Harrison Bader knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to left.

But that was it. Ohtani retired 12 of the next 14 Phillies and the momentum they had built in the second disappeared as quickly as a Kyle Schwarber line drive home run. And the Dodgers pounced, winning the game on a three-run home run by three-hole hitter Teoscar Hernandez in the seventh off Matt Strahm.

Up until Hernandez’ home run, the top three hitters in the Dodgers order – including Ohtani and Mookie Betts – were

And now Rob Thomson may have to manage his lineup a bit differently, as Bader left the game on Saturday with soreness in his groin after running to second on a single by Stott in the fifth.

“No major tear or strain,” Thomson said of his starting centerfielder. “He’s going to come in this afternoon and get treatment, and we’ll know more tomorrow. I think after the game they stretched him out; they got him moving around a little bit and I think he felt a lot better after that. We’ll know whether he’s available to start or at least to pinch-hit. We’ll know more tomorrow.”

While hitters have to hit for the Phillies, especially the ones at the top of the order, the focus, as it always does, will fall on the starting pitcher. Luzardo has the benefit of having faced the Dodgers on September (four runs in seven innings) and watching fellow lefty Cristopher Sánchez attack them last night.

“I’ve been going after him basically all season at this point and I think for the most part I would do a good job of (studying),” Luzardo said. “We’re different pitchers but at the same time lefthanded. They take certain swings or certain approaches against him. That might change a little bit with me. There’s something to that and understanding how their approach was with him, how they looked on certain pitches. I definitely study the way he pitched them and how they reacted to that.

“It works both ways. They get a little bit on you, understanding how you work and how they see you. But at the same time, you get a little familiarity with them, their swing paths and their approach. It might change a little here and there but for the most part it is what it is. There’s comfort knowing that you faced them a good amount, especially recently.”

Comfort wouldn’t seem to be a word floating around the Phillies’ situation right now, but we’ll see starting at 6:08 p.m.

“It is baseball and sometimes you lose games at home,” Thomson said. “You’ve got to play well. You’ve got to pitch, and you have to play defense and swing the bats, play small ball at times. It’s just the way it is. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to come in here tomorrow night and not play well. I know that we’ve played better at home. I feel like we’re more comfortable at home, that’s for sure. They’ll come out here, and they’ll be ready to go tomorrow night.”

Red October coverage on NBC Sports Philadelphia is sponsored by Toyota.

Phillies' bullpen decisions loom large in Game 1 loss to Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

After the MLB Trade Deadline late July, Phillies fans felt pretty good about their bullpen.

But that confidence took a hit Saturday night in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Dodgers.

Entering August, it seemed like the ‘pen was the deepest it had been in years. President of baseball operations, Dave Dombrowski, added 17-year veteran David Robertson, who carried a 2.91 career ERA, and flamethrower Jhoan Duran, acquired in a deal that cost two of the organization’s top five prospects.

Robertson looked sharp early, posting a 1.17 ERA in his first nine outings with Philadelphia. But by September, the cracks began to show. Robertson allowed seven earned runs across his final 10 innings (6.30 ERA), and Orion Kerkering also stumbled down the stretch, giving up runs in four of his final six appearances.

The right-handers in middle-relief looked shaky, and on Saturday, those late-season concerns resurfaced.

After Cristopher Sánchez allowed a two-out, two-run double to Enrique Hernández in the sixth, Rob Thomson turned to Robertson to stop the bleeding. The veteran did just that — inducing a soft groundout from Max Muncy to end the frame.

The way that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts constructed his lineup to face Sánchez offered an opportunity for extreme length at the bottom of the order.

He batted Andy Pages (.272/27/86) in the eight hole and catcher Ben Rortvedt ninth. In the fifth inning, the Dodgers pinch hit Will Smith (.296/17/61) for Rortvedt setting up the trio of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández.

Thomson’s decision to bring Robertson back out for the seventh proved costly.

Robertson allowed a leadoff single to Pages, then plunked Smith three pitches later, putting two on with nobody out for Ohtani. That’s when Thomson went to Matt Strahm.

“I wanted to make sure we had a lefty on Ohtani,” Thomson said postgame. “If you bring in another righty, he’s got to face Ohtani. Robbie didn’t throw that many pitches and he was good to go.”

Strahm retired Ohtani and Betts, but with two outs, Hernández crushed a back-breaking three-run homer to right-center. It was all the Dodgers needed in a 5-3 win.

Strahm was blunt afterward: “I feel like I got gut-punched. Missed on two pitches, and one of them got damaged.”

Robertson, who shouldered the loss, echoed the frustration. “I had extra time to warm up tonight, and just didn’t make good pitches.”

The Dodgers’ bullpen, which had been shaky in the Wild Card round, looked far steadier in Game 1. After Ohtani’s six innings, the Dodgers skipper called on Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki to get eight of the final nine outs — both starters now repurposed as high-leverage arms.

It’s a contrast to how the Phillies approached their own bullpen. Before the game, Thomson mentioned Ranger Suárez would be available out of relief. And recently, Thomson discussed seasoned postseason veteran Walker Buehler as an option. With Robertson struggling at the end of the regular season, a clean inning from Suárez or even Buehler might’ve been the better move.

Obviously, a lot of this analysis is in hindsight. But when the manager himself admits he planned for Ohtani vs. Strahm, it raises the question of whether Strahm should’ve started the inning rather than inheriting runners.

Especially when Pages swatted 24 homers and Smith posted a .923 OPS against righties this season. While neither is no slouch against southpaws, Strahm beginning the seventh would have made sense too.

At the end of the day, the Phillies collected just five hits and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Beating a lineup like Los Angeles requires more than one early blow.

Game 1 doesn’t decide a series, but it showed exactly what the Phillies will need to fix if they plan on moving on.

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Teoscar Hernández does not lack for emotion. He plays with joy, with exuberance, with delight.

The Dodgers know he can hit. We all do. If the emotion dissipates, so can the performance.

Hernández could have been the goat Saturday night, in what would have been the Dodgers’ first loss in this postseason. Instead, he hit the game-winning home run, nearly levitated around first base, and became an October hero yet again.

In the Dodgers’ 16 postseason games last year, he hit three home runs and drove in 12 runs. In the Dodgers’ three postseason games so far this year, he has hit three home runs and driven in nine.

You might fret about his uneven defense. You might second guess a defensive play that put the Dodgers deeper into an early hole.

Read more:Dodgers show their resiliency again in NLDS Game 1 comeback win over Phillies

All’s well that ends well, as evidenced by his three-run home run that powered the Dodgers to a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League division series opener.

“For me, anything that happened before a big moment like that, it's in the past,” Hernández said.

“I try to put it in the trash and just focus on the things that I need to do.”

In the second inning of what was then a scoreless tie, the Phillies put runners on first and second with none out. Catcher J.T. Realmuto pummeled a Shohei Ohtani fastball into right-center field, where Hernández approached the ball but did not appear to accelerate as the ball skipped past him.

If Hernández had cut the ball off, Realmuto would have had a single, and the Phillies would have scored two runs in the inning. Instead, Realmuto had a triple — matching his season total — and he later scored a third run in the inning.

“I would argue that he wasn’t not trying,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Hernández. “But, yeah, that's a ball that you don't want Realmuto to have a triple.”

On Twitter, former Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson posted — and then deleted — this: “If I’m Shohei I’m going to need Teoscar Hernández to try a little harder.”

Hernández said he did not get a good angle toward the hard-hit ball. Roberts did credit Hernández with a defensive adjustment on a later ball, shading the line to keep Bryce Harper to a single rather than an extra-base hit that could have driven home a run for the Phillies.

The Dodgers minimized Hernández’s defensive exposure last year by playing him most often in left field, with Mookie Betts in right field. This year, with Betts at shortstop and the Dodgers declining to add a right fielder at the trade deadline, Hernández has played right field all season.

The only major leaguer to play more innings in right field this season and finish lower in defensive runs saved: the Phillies’ Nick Castellanos, who got into Saturday’s game only after Harrison Bader suffered a groin injury.

Make no mistake, though: Hernández is here to hit. The Dodgers awarded Hernández a three-year, $66-million contract last winter, well aware that designated hitter would not be an option because of that Ohtani guy.

As Dodgers catcher Will Smith explained Saturday to a reporter wondering whether he might spend more time as a DH in the future: “We've got a pretty good DH. I think we're pretty set on that.”

Hernández was neither hitting nor fielding well for much of the second half, causing Roberts to say at the start of September that he had urged his right fielder to “get in the fight.” In the last week of August, he even benched Hernández for one day.

Said Roberts then: “I think we’ve lost a little bit of that edge over the last couple months. For me, I want to see that edge, that fight, that fire, and I’ll bet on any result.”

In September, Hernández put up a .769 OPS, his best for any month since the first one. In the Dodgers’ first postseason game, he hit home runs in consecutive at-bats.

Read more:Hernández: Dodgers save Shohei Ohtani, not the other way around, in monumental Game 1 NLDS win

On Saturday, in their third postseason game, he stepped to bat in the eighth inning with two on, two out, and the Dodgers trailing by one run — and the Phillies had scored one extra run when he could not run down that Realmuto triple.

Hernández homered. He smiled. He skipped.

“It was a great moment,” Ohtani said.

In his face, we saw joy.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Dodgers spent more than $125 million on their bullpen last winter. But when they needed relief late in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday, they turned to a couple of starters who spent much of the season on the injury list.

And it worked out — though just barely — with Tyler Glasnow and Roki Sasaki combining for eight of the final nine outs in a 5-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Alex Vesia got the other out, retiring pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa on a fly ball to center with the bases loaded to end the eighth. Sasaki then came on to close it out in the ninth, getting Bryson Stott, representing the tying run, to pop up in foul territory behind third base to end the game.

“What Glas did tonight, it's not easy to do. And so for him to give us the innings he gave us tonight was huge," third baseman Max Muncy said.

The four pitchers the Dodgers used all spent time away from the mound this season.

Starter Shohei Ohtani, who didn’t pitch at all last season, didn’t pitch until June and hadn't thrown past the fifth inning until his final regular-season start. He went six innings against the Phillies, giving up three runs and three hits and striking out nine.

Glasnow missed more than two months with shoulder inflammation and other issues. Sasaki went to the sideline in early May with a right shoulder impingement and wasn’t reactivated until the final week of the season — as a reliever. Even Vesia missed a couple of weeks with an oblique strain.

But they were all ready for the start of the NDLS. Well, kind of — Glasnow said he was in the bathroom when the call came down for him to start warming up.

“The phone rang and they yelled my name,” he said. “Here we go. It definitely felt weird, but fun. [With the] adrenaline, there’s not as much effort to get the same stuff and [get] warmed up.”

When Glasnow first began throwing the Dodgers trailed 3-2. But by the time he entered the game they were front 5-3 on Teoscar Hernández’s three-run homer. So his assignment changed from keeping his team close to protecting a lead.

“For them to trust me to go out there and throw some big innings, it was awesome,” Glasnow said.

His first inning, the seventh, went pretty well, with Glasnow setting down the side in order. The first batter, J.T. Realmuto, reached on an error, but he was erased on a double play.

Read more:Hernández: Dodgers save Shohei Ohtani, not the other way around, in monumental Game 1 NLDS win

The eighth didn’t go as well. Trea Turner walked with one out, and although manager Dave Roberts had Vesia, a left-hander, in the bullpen, the right-handed Glasnow was allowed to face lefty sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.

He struck out Schwarber on three pitches, but Harper singled to right. So when Alec Bohm walked to load the bases, Roberts finally called in Vesia, who got Sosa to pop out, ending the threat.

“The coaches put the trust in him and he just kept telling me, ‘You're driving me. Just tell me what to do’,” catcher Will Smith said of guiding Glasnow through his first relief appearance since 2018. “He's put trust in me and I put trust in him. And it worked out tonight.”

It worked out because Sasaki came out of the bullpen throwing gas, topping 99 mph on seven of his 11 pitches, including the final one, which hit 100. Sasaki, who earned the save, also pitched the final inning of the wild-card series against the Cincinnati Reds and has thrown two scoreless innings, striking out three.

In fact, three pitchers who spent most of the season as starters — Emmet Sheehan, Glasnow and Sasaki — have combined to throw more innings out of the bullpen in the playoffs than the Dodgers’ regular relievers. That wasn’t the way the front office drew it up when they spent wildly on the bullpen over the winter. But it’s working.

“One real strength of this roster is our starting pitching,” Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, said before the game. “It speaks to that depth. Those guys are really talented.

“And I can see it factoring in and helping us.”

It already has.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

It wasn’t an impassioned speech. But it proved to be a prescient point.

In the hours before Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night, the Dodgers' offense was gathered for their typical pregame hitters meeting when Aaron Bates, one of the hitting coaches, spoke up and offered a reminder to the room. 

In this series, Bates knew there would be moments of adversity. And in this ballpark, where 45,000 crazed Philadelphia Phillies fans have created one of the best home-field advantages in all of baseball, the Dodgers needed to be ready to react and respond.

“The intensity and the fans were going to be there early in the game,” he told them, as infielder Miguel Rojas later recalled.

“If something happens early, if Schwarber hits one 800 feet and the roof blows off this place, don’t worry about it,” he added, according to third baseman Max Muncy, “Because when they’re dead silent in the seventh or eighth innings and we’re winning, that’s all that’s gonna matter.”

In the nine innings that followed, that’s exactly how the script played out.

The Phillies landed an early punch, ambushing Shohei Ohtani with a three-run second inning that had Citizens Bank Park shaking on the scale of a small earthquake.

Then the Dodgers answered back, rallying to a resilient 5-3 win that gave them an all-important leg up in this best-of-five series.

“It’s a message that, when you hear it, it sounds silly,” Muncy said of Bates’ pregame reminder. “But, there’s a lot of truth to it. When you come into places like this, it’s very hostile, it’s very loud.”

It certainly was in the second inning, when J.T. Realmuto hit a two-run triple that opened the scoring and knocked the defending champions to the mat.

But as they’ve shown so often over the last two Octobers, even when they’re down they never seem to be out.

“Get through the loud crowd and that sort of thing,” Bates said, modestly downplaying his hitters’ meeting speech. “Just make sure you stick to your plan, stick to the course. And we did a good job doing that.”

The Dodgers shrugged off the early adversity, with Ohtani allowing no further damage over a six-inning start; finishing his postseason pitching debut with nine strikeouts and four monumental scoreless frames after the second.

Read more:It must be October, because Super Kiké Hernández is here. 'Track record speaks for itself'

Their lineup, meanwhile, chipped away at the deficit, chasing Phillies ace and Cy Young Award candidate Cristopher Sánchez from the game on Kiké Hernández’s two-out double in the sixth.

In the seventh, the actual knockout blow arrived on a game-deciding swing from Teoscar Hernández. With two outs in the inning, and the Phillies on the verge of an escape, he blasted a go-ahead three-run home run.

Just like that, South Philadelphia fell silent.

“When you can hear a pin drop in the stadium, that’s the ultimate feeling in baseball,” Muncy said. “I felt like the people in the upper deck could hear us cheering in the dugout.”

Early on in Saturday’s game, the Phillies’ daunting home stadium was providing the opposite environment.

Sánchez was carving Dodgers hitters up with wicked sinkers and fall-off-the-table changeups. On the other side, Ohtani ran into trouble in the bottom of the second.

Read more:Hernández: Dodgers save Shohei Ohtani, not the other way around, in monumental Game 1 NLDS win

The inning started with a walk to Alec Bohm, when Ohtani missed with a full-count fastball. That was followed by a single from Brandon Marsh, who got a down-the-middle fastball in a 2-and-2 count and shot a base hit to center.

As Ohtani tried to settle down, a chorus of taunting chants — Sho-Hei! Sho-Hei! — came raining down around him.

Then, pandemonium was unleashed on one Realmuto swing. 

After missing with a first-pitch slider to Realmuto, Ohtani left a 100.2 mph heater in the heart of the zone. The location rendered the velocity irrelevant. Realmuto barreled it up, sent a line drive screaming into right-center, then chugged all the way to third after the ball got past Teoscar Hernández in the gap.

A fly ball two batters later — which served as a sacrifice fly thanks to Hernández’s inability to cut the ball off on Realmuto’s triple earlier — made it 3-0.

In the moment (and with the way Sánchez was pitching), it felt like an almost insurmountable lead.

In the dugout, however, the Dodgers thought back to Bates’ pregame message.

They were staggered, but didn’t submit. They were rattled, but not wrecked.

“Gotta give credit to Aaron Bates on that one. He made sure all the hitters knew about it,” Muncy said. “You just got to find a way to weather that storm and understand what the end goal is."

The turnaround began with Ohtani, who despite striking out four times as a batter followed Realmuto’s triple by retiring the next 10 he faced. His only other trouble came in the fifth, when the bottom two hitters in the Phillies’ order reached base with one out. But even then, Ohtani buckled down, getting Trea Turner to line out and Kyle Schwarber to swing through a curveball that ended the inning.

On the night, Ohtani and the Dodgers’ relievers limited the Phillies’ big three of Turner, Schwarber and Bryce Harper to just one hit in 11 at-bats.

“I use the word compartmentalize a lot, but this epitomizes compartmentalizing,” manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani. “To go out there and give us six innings, keep us in the ball game, I just don't know any human that can manage that, those emotions. How do you not take [the hitting struggles] to the mound?”

Eventually, the Dodgers’ offense found life too.

With two outs in the sixth, and Sánchez having given up only two hits all night, Freddie Freeman sparked a rally with a five-pitch walk. Tommy Edman took a sinker the other way to put two aboard.

That brought up Kiké Hernández, who continued his habit of October heroics by jumping on a slider from Sánchez that caught a little too much plate. Hernández roped a line drive down the left-field line. Freeman and Edman scored, with the latter running through a stop sign before sliding safely across the plate.

Just like that, Sánchez was knocked out of the game. What had been a raucous crowd earlier suddenly grew tense.

Then, in the seventh, Teoscar Hernández made the comeback complete.

After Andy Pages led with a single and Will Smith (who entered the game in the fifth inning after missing the wild-card round with a fractured hand) was hit by a pitch from David Robertson, the Phillies summoned top left-handed reliever Matt Strahm and watched him get Ohtani to strike out for the fourth consecutive time (something he had done in a game only once before in his career).

By getting Strahm on the mound, however, the Dodgers had favorable right-on-left matchups. Mookie Betts couldn’t take advantage, popping out to third for the second out. Hernández, on the other hand, didn’t miss, sending an elevated fastball sailing high into the autumn night.

“I watched videos [of him]. He likes to go up in the strike zone. I think that's when he's stronger,” Hernández said. “[I was] not trying to overswing or anything like that. Try to bring in one run to tie the game. But he left it over the strike zone.”

And as the ball landed in the right-field stands, the once rollicking ballpark fell into a stunned silence.

Back in the dugout, Muncy said, “a lot of people were yelling at Bates, like, ‘Hey, you were right!’”

Bates, once again, deflected when asked about the moment.

“We were really just excited that Teo got him eventually,” he said. “It was a great swing, using the whole field. That’s what Teo does. He stuck to his plan throughout the day. And then they make a mistake and he gets him.”

Still, the attitude he’d preached before the game had helped the Dodgers jump back in front. And from there, a new-look bullpen plan managed to collect the final nine outs.

Projected Game 4 starter Tyler Glasnow came on in relief of Ohtani in the seventh and pitched a scoreless inning that ended on a double-play ball. He left behind a bases-loaded jam in the eighth, but was bailed out when Alex Vesia got a fly ball to end the inning.

The ninth belonged to newly ascendant closer Roki Sasaki, who continued his late-season resurgence as a reliever by working around a one-out double to Max Kepler to collect his first career save.

And when the final out was recorded, somber Phillies fans filed out into a quiet night.

“We knew we were going to be winning in the seventh inning. He said it,” Rojas said, referring to Bates’ speech one more time. “He said that we were going to have an opportunity to come back in the game, and it happened. The guys stuck together. ... That’s why we’re a team.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

On the mound, he self-destructed in a second inning that nearly placed the game out of his team’s reach.

In the batter’s box, he struck out four times for only the seventh time in his career.

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

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 combined to shut down the lethal Phillies lineup over the last three innings.

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

He was saved by a three-run blast by Teoscar Hernández in the seventh that moved them in front, 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 road win necessary to advance, the Dodgers have taken control of this best-of-five series against the Phillies, who could be the greatest obstacle in their World Series defense.

The Dodgers should have the edge in starting pitching over the next two 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 game is required to decide this NLDS, Ohtani will be able to pitch on six-days’ rest.

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

Read more:Dodgers show their resiliency again in NLDS Game 1 comeback win over Phillies

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

That being said, Roberts was quick to point out Ohtani’s contributions.

How after that brutal second inning, Ohtani pitched four scoreless innings to keep the Dodgers within striking distance. How Ohtani showed bunt and stepped out of the batter’s box in his ninth-inning at-bat as part of a plan to buy more time for Sasaki to warm up to close the game.

Ohtani sounded particularly 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 necessary because of a second inning that started with a walk by Alec Bohm. Midway through the at-bat of the next hitter, Brandon Marsh, the Citizens Bank Park crowd started to taunt Ohtani.

Sho-hei!

Sho-hei!

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

Heavy-footed right 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 were down, 3-0.

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

The Dodgers didn’t send Ohtani to the mound in either of their two games of the previous round against the Cincinnati Reds.

By starting Snell and Yamamoto in the wild-card series, the Dodgers were able to save Ohtani for Game 1 of their series against the more formidable Phillies.

The Dodgers entered the NLDS reveling in the history about to be made by Ohtani, the most valuable player as a designated hitter last season back in the October spotlight 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 game.

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.”

Read more:Teoscar Hernández home run powers Dodgers to NLDS Game 1 win over Phillies

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 really well on Saturday night, but he will have a chance to pitch really well in the days and weeks ahead.

His team gifted him the opportunity.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.