LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani set the tone for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 10-5 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series on Tuesday.
His leadoff home run was the first of five for the Dodgers. Reds starter Hunter Greene gave up three homers in his three innings, while Dodgers starter Blake Snell didn’t allow his third base runner until the seventh inning, giving the heavily favored Dodgers a commanding 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series
Blake Snell goes deep against a surprising game plan
The theoretical book has been out on Snell for years: He can’t go deep into starts, and the best strategy against him is to wait him out. So much for that. The Reds seemingly wanted to jump on as many early-count fastballs as possible against the two-time Cy Young winner, with four of the first six batters he faced ending their at-bats within two pitches.
The effects were twofold. Not only was Snell able to settle in and be effective, but he also delivered the longest postseason start of his career. He threw seven innings in 91 pitches, topping the 5 2/3 innings he threw in his first outing of the 2020 postseason.
Given the state of the Dodgers’ bullpen, the team will need to lean on its starting pitching. Snell provided an ideal start.
Blake Snell delivered seven strong innings against a surprisingly aggressive Reds lineup. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Reds’ season sits on Zack Littell’s shoulder
Since the current playoff format was implemented, the team that has won Game 1 has won 18 of 20 series. For the Reds, it may have been more vital than any of the other 20 teams to win the first game. The underdog Reds, winners of 83 games — 10 fewer than the Dodgers and four fewer than any other team in the playoffs — had their top starter, Hunter Greene, going in Game 1. Their All-Star, lefty Andrew Abbott, is scheduled for Game 3 — if it even happens.
Zack Littell, a trade deadline acquisition who had been the last man in the rotation, is the surprise starter for Game 2 over lefty Nick Lodolo, who appeared in relief for the Reds in Sunday’s season finale in Milwaukee. Lodolo is scheduled to be in the bullpen for Game 2 on Wednesday.
Greene, the team’s two-time Opening Day starter, had two stints on the IL with a groin strain, the second lasting more than two months. He was 3-1 with a 2.81 ERA in eight starts since returning. But over the last three starts, the Reds went 1-2 with Greene logging the shortest start of his career, the best game of his career and then a loss in what was perhaps the most important start of his career until Tuesday.
The Reds’ playoff hopes were predicated on the strength of their starting pitching — that didn’t include Littell, who will be on the bump for an elimination game.
Teoscar Hernández reprises role from last October
Shohei Ohtani made the 2024 Dodgers dangerous. Freddie Freeman swung the World Series with his heroics. Mookie Betts overcame his past October struggles and was their steadiest presence. But it was Teoscar Hernández who made them overpowering, as the All-Star outfielder emerged as a key middle-of-the-order presence who was death on left-handed pitching.
That magic wore off this season, to the point where Dave Roberts even benched Hernández for what the manager called a “two-day reset” last month to try to get Hernández his “edge” back.
Hernández responded Tuesday night, back in the postseason, by launching the three-run blast that broke the game open in the third inning against Greene. (Tommy Edman followed it up with a blast of his own). Then, in the fifth, Hernández greeted Reds reliever Connor Phillips with a solo blast the other way as the Dodgers offense roared to life.
Reds’ offense arrives too late
Don’t let Greene’s rough night overshadow the fact that the Reds’ offense stumbled out of the gate.
Although the team did manage to score its first postseason runs in nearly a dozen years (Wednesday marks the 12th anniversary of Shin-Soo Choo’s eighth-inning home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the Reds’ 6-2 loss in the 2013 Wild Card Game), it was too little, too late.
Before the seventh inning, the Reds had just two base runners — a Matt McLain double and TJ Friedl walk in the third inning — as the Dodgers built an 8-0 lead.
There was a glimmer of hope late as the Reds scored two runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth.
Though it was not enough to overcome an eight-run deficit, it served as a blueprint for Wednesday to force a game on Thursday. It was no secret that the Dodgers’ bullpen was its weak spot, but the Reds’ late flurry reinforced the need to get the Game 2 starter out of the game early. Of course, that’s easier said than done when that starter is Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The Reds finished with only seven hits.
(Top photo of Teoscar Hernández and Andy Pages: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
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