LOS ANGELES — For the second straight year, Shohei Ohtani homered in his first postseason game. But this time, he went one better, blasting two long balls in the Dodgers’ convincing 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series.
“It was a tough pitch,” he said of the first-inning blast off Reds’ ace Hunter Greene. “I thought I had a good reaction. Hitting that pitch was difficult, but the reaction was good and it helped us spark things in front of the home crowd.”
Asked about how the batting order played behind him, Ohtani pointed to pressure and sequence. “Of course that was a big home run in an important spot, but as a lineup we got on base, we pushed runners forward, and we finished innings,” he said. “As a flow, I think we put together good, honest offense.”
He was quick to include his teammates by name. “Teoscar has a great lineup around him,” Ohtani said when pressed about how often he has watched Teoscar Hernández carry innings. “You could feel the danger in our bats tonight, including his.”
Ohtani called the two homers “pretty different” and then broke them down. “Both have their own good parts,” he said. “On the first one, like I said, it was a 100 mile-per-hour fastball inside. Even if you’re looking for it, that’s not a pitch you can hit for a homer many times. On the second one, it was a mistake, but there were runners on and it turned into good add-on runs. So both had value.”
He connected the early lead to how the rest of the night settled. “An early cushion lets the starter attack the zone with more freedom,” Ohtani said. “After the first run, in later at-bats everyone can swing with a little more ease. Instead of walking up tight in a tie game, you’re hitting while leading and looking to add on. That leads to better offense.”
There was also a small look back at the regular season finish and how it carried him into tonight. “The rehab constraints are gone,” he said. “I finished the season in a good way. Today was good, but I don’t know about tomorrow and after. I have to switch the mindset quickly. Ending well on both sides helped me come into today with a clear head. In that sense, finishing strong was good.”
On the value of striking first in a short set, Ohtani didn’t oversell it but he didn’t shrug either. “Scoring first doesn’t mean you win,” he said, “but for the starter it means more room to attack, and for the lineup it means you can swing more decisively. In a short series that matters.”
He circled back to the simple idea that ran through all his answers. “Get on, push runners, finish the inning,” he said. “Add on when you can.”
Questions about when he might pitch again were waved aside for the night. “Today was about hitting,” Ohtani said. “We’ll turn the page and get ready.”
The message fit the box score. “We did a good job staying on base and cashing in,” he said. “Both homers helped, but the whole lineup did the work.”
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