Dodgers rally to brush Reds in NL Wild Card and arrange conflict with Phillies in NLDS – NBC Los Angeles
For a fleeting second within the prime of the primary inning Wednesday evening, it felt just like the Los Angeles Dodgers is perhaps strolling into a type of cursed October nights.
Teoscar Hernández had settled below a can-of-corn fly ball that ought to have ended the inning with out injury. As an alternative, it clanged off his glove, bouncing into the grass as two Reds runners scrambled into scoring place.
Seconds later, Sal Stewart despatched them each dwelling, staking Cincinnati to an unbelievable two-run early lead, leaving Hernández standing in proper area together with his head down, figuring out he’d gifted his opponents two unearned runs.
However the postseason has a manner of twisting errors into storylines. On this case, the Dodgers refused to let that error outline them.
Behind the regular brilliance of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a late offensive eruption, the Dodgers stormed again for a 8–4 win in Sport 2 of the Nationwide League Wild Card Sequence, finishing a two-game sweep that sends them right into a heavyweight Division Sequence matchup in opposition to the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Dodgers’ response got here with quiet urgency. Down 2–0, they chipped away till the deficit felt like an phantasm. Mookie Betts lined a run-scoring double into the left area nook within the third inning to place the Dodgers on the board.
One inning later, Kiké Hernández — who has made a profession out of October moments — squared up a pitch and drilled it into the right-center hole, tying the sport at two. The vitality shifted instantly, Dodger blue jerseys bouncing within the dugout railings as if they may sense what was coming subsequent.
“I do know they introduced me right here for these sort of moments,” stated Hernández.
Miguel Rojas, one of many lineup’s extra unheralded contributors, stepped up moments later with two outs and a runner on second. His opposite-field single dropped softly in entrance of proper fielder Austin Hays, bringing dwelling the go-ahead run.
And from there the Dodgers would by no means look again.
Fortunately for Los Angeles, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was greater than as much as the duty. Making his first begin of the 2025 postseason, the 27-year-old showcased why the Dodgers invested so closely in him within the winter of 2023.
His splitter darted beneath bats, his fastball commanded each side of the plate, and his composure by no means wavered — not even when the sport threatened to spiral uncontrolled within the sixth inning.
Defending a one-run lead, Yamamoto allowed three consecutive Reds to succeed in base, loading the luggage with no outs. Roberts had veteran reliever Blake Treinen tossing within the bullpen, however he stayed glued to the dugout rail, permitting Yamamoto to stay on the mound center-stage.
“He is not too large for any second,” stated Roberts of Yamamoto. “He has the flexibility to make pitches when he must. He all the time looks as if the most suitable choice. He is a extremely big-game pitcher.”
Yamamoto rewarded him with the inning of his younger MLB profession. First, a floor ball became a power out on the plate. Then, with the gang roaring, Yamamoto struck out back-to-back hitters to flee the inning unscathed. He stomped off the mound together with his fist raised, his six shutout innings preserved regardless of the 2 unearned runs within the first.
Yamamoto’s line: 6.2 innings, 4 hits, two walks, 9 strikeouts. Zero earned runs.
By the point the underside of the sixth arrived, the Dodgers’ offense was prepared to shut the door. Shohei Ohtani flicked an RBI single to heart to increase the lead. Betts adopted together with his second run-scoring double of the evening. After which, redemption arrived for Teoscar Hernández.
The identical man who had muffed the first-inning fly ball got here up with two on and lashed a pointy single to proper, driving dwelling each and placing Los Angeles forward 7–2. He raised his arms out vast and celebrated as he arrived on second base, exhaling the load of the sport’s opening mistake.
The Dodgers bullpen took the wind out of the profitable sails for the second evening in a row, however the 18 whole runs within the collection by the offense was greater than sufficient to finish the sweep. Roki Sasaki pitched a scoreless ninth in his first style of the postseason for the prized rookie from Japan.
Betts completed with six hits, together with three RBI doubles within the collection. Ohtani hit two homers in Sport 1 of the collection, and knocked in 4 runs. Teoscar Hernández had 6 RBI within the collection and in addition had a pair of homers in Sport 1. Kiké Hernandez had 4 hits and three runs scored.
With the sweep safe, the Dodgers now face what is perhaps their hardest take a look at but: the World Sequence favorites, the Philadelphia Phillies. The collection, starting this weekend at Residents Financial institution Park, pits two rosters that mirror one another in energy, depth, and star wattage. The Phillies, led by Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber, boast a lineup and rotation constructed for October. The Dodgers counter with Betts, Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and an equally deadly if not, higher beginning rotation.
It’s a matchup baseball purists dream of — two of the game’s most iconic franchises colliding below the October lights. For the Dodgers, it’s one other likelihood to show that their depth and star energy can carry them by way of the sort of battles that outline postseason runs.
And so, with the echoes of Teoscar’s redemption nonetheless bouncing round Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers board a airplane to Philadelphia, their eyes on a much bigger prize and their confidence constructed on the sort of comeback that October baseball calls for.
