Shane Shibata jumps from his seat while friend Honoka cheers, after Shohei Ohtani’s base hit in Game 1 was key to a Dodger win.
Just two games into Ohtani’s first postseason series, the home runs – and sparks – are flying.
By MIKEY HIRANO CULROSS
RAFU SPORTS EDITOR
Published Oct. 8, 2024
Home runs, masterful pitching strategy, comebacks, taunts, staredowns, trash-talking and trash-throwing. And we’re only two games in.
Fans and players alike seemed fairly exhausted on Sunday, after a wild win by the visiting San Diego Padres evened their National League Division Series with the Dodgers at a game apiece.
“I don’t know how much of this I’m going to be able to take,” said Dodger fan Carla as she headed home after her team’s 10-2 loss on Sunday.
It was an inverse but equally intense mood on Saturday, after the Dodgers’ exhilirating 7-5 win that featured Shohei Ohtani belting a home run in his first-ever postseason game.
“I’ve played at this stadium the entire year and was able to really feel the intensity of the stadium, even before the game started,” Ohtani said after Saturday’s victory.
After six seasons with the Angels that delivered exactly zero postseason opportunities, Ohtani made a splash in his second at-bat in Game 1. With the Dodgers trailing 3-0 after a shaky start on the mound by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ohtani clubbed a two-out, three-run homer to tie the game and ignite the sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium.
“It obviously got us back in the game. It just got the momentum back for us and just gave us life,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I think from pitch one, the fans were just engaged, were in it. I just felt that energy. I think Shohei feeds off that. But that was just a huge hit.
“It’s been insane how good he’s been with runners in scoring position. The key is to get those opportunities because, yeah, when he does get those opportunities you feel like he’s going to cash them in.”
Ohtani later added a broken-bat RBI single during a seventh-inning rally that put the Dodgers ahead for good.
Yamamoto said he could feel the weight of the moment, and was disappointed at giving up five runs over only three innings. As it turned out, he kept his club’s high-powered offense within striking distance.
An Orange County resident named Heidi was the lucky fan who corralled Shohei Ohtani’s first-ever postseason home run ball.
“I appreciated all the support after I gave up the runs. As a result, I’m so glad that we won as a team at the end,” Yamamoto added.
After capturing the NL West themselves facing the Padres, who advanced with a win over Atlanta in the Wild Card playoff.
The Padres eliminated the Dodgers two years ago, and a comment about payback from Dodgers manager Roberts before this NLDS began seems to have provided a few more turns of the competitve screws for these SoCal rivals.
San Diego manager Mike Shildt alluded to the remarks after Sunday’s win, but didn’t put too much emphasis on the words.
“We’re going to talk with our play; we’re not going to back down; we’re going to elevate our game; we’re going to be together; and we’re going to take care of business.”
Game 2 got tense early, when Padres leftfielder Jurickson Profar robbed Mookie Betts of what looked to be a sure game-tying home run in the first inning. It was a fine catch, but Profar followed it by taunting the fans who narrowly missed catching the ball.
His antics lit the fuse on an unfortunate scene in the seventh inning, when he exchanged heated words with spectators, who responded by throwing balls and other objects onto the field, resulting in a 12-minute delay of the game. At one point, a visibly furious Profar was restrained by umpires and teammates.
“I’ve never experienced any-thing like that,” said Yu Darvish, who started for the Padres and delivered seven sharp innings. “What I was thinking, it was important not to give up any runs in that inning. If you do that, the tendency is that sort of the game flow changes. So my mindset was just shut them down here.”
A quick meeting in the Padres’ dugout only seemed to re-energize the team. As for what was said in that huddle, Darvish described “some dirty words here and there.”
As the best-of-five series shifts to San Diego on Tuesday for two games, the Padres have an unexpected postseason offensive leader. SoCal native Kyle Higashioka’s .364 average is third-best on the team and he has three home runs, as many as star slugger Fernando Tatis, Jr.