LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández hit two home runs apiece, Blake Snell struck out nine over seven strong innings and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds 10-5 in their NL Wild Card Series opener Tuesday night.
Tommy Edman also went deep for the Dodgers, who tied a franchise postseason record with five homers and pounded out 15 hits as they opened their bid to become the first back-to-back World Series winners in 25 years.
Ohtani, who had a career-high 55 homers in the regular season, homered leading off the first. His 117.7 mph drive off a 100.4 mph fastball from Reds ace Hunter Greene was the fastest pitch Ohtani has homered on in his major league career.
“It was a really hard pitch to hit, but I felt like I reacted pretty well,” Ohtani said through a translator. “I was happy I was able to help the team score early.”
The two-way superstar from Japan added a 454-foot, two-run shot off Connor Phillips with two outs in the sixth. Ohtani also struck out three times.
The only hit Snell allowed through six innings was Matt McClain’s double down the third base line that eluded a diving Max Muncy with two outs in the third. The Reds scored two runs in the seventh on Elly De La Cruz’s groundout and Tyler Stephenson’s double.
Snell retired his initial eight batters in his first playoff start since 2022, when the two-time Cy Young Award winner was with the San Diego Padres. He matched his postseason high for strikeouts in the longest postseason start of his career.
“I felt really in control, could read swings and just kind of navigate through the lineup the way I wanted to,” Snell said.
The cheers turned to boos for a shaky Dodgers bullpen in the eighth when Cincinnati batted around. Los Angeles relievers Alex Vesia, Edgardo Henriquez and Jack Dreyer combined to issue four walks as the Reds scored three runs and pulled to 10-5. The trio needed 59 pitches to get three outs.
“When you’re on the attack, those guys are on their heels with the lead we have,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When you start being too fine and getting behind, you start giving them free bases. That’s how you can build innings and get momentum, so that’s what I saw in that inning there, for sure.”
Game 2 in the best-of-three series is Wednesday night. The winner advances to a best-of-five Division Series against Philadelphia.
Greene was knocked out after just three innings, a disappointing postseason debut in his hometown. He gave up five runs, including three homers, and six hits on 65 pitches. The right-hander, whose favorite team growing up was the Dodgers, struck out four and walked three.
“He didn’t locate,” Reds manager Terry Francona said, “and when he didn’t locate he really paid a price for that.”
Greene walked Freddie Freeman and Muncy back-to-back in the third. They moved up on a wild pitch before Hernández’s three-run homer to the left-field pavilion. Edman followed with a solo shot, extending the lead to 5-0.
“From the outset we had a really good game plan against Hunter,” Roberts said, “and we just didn’t miss pitches when he made mistakes.”
Hernández greeted Phillips with a two-strike homer that made it 6-0 in the fifth.
Up next
Reds RHP Zack Littell (10-8, 3.81 ERA) starts Wednesday against Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8, 2.49).
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