Dodgers rebound after rough start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, take NLDS Game 1

LOS ANGELES – October history threatened to repeat itself. But the Dodgers had an answer.

Nope.

The San Diego Padres scored five times in three innings against Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto. But the Dodgers responded in ways they hadn’t when put in the same predicament in last year’s postseason. The offense punched back, the bullpen covered for Yamamoto and the Dodgers won Game 1 of their National League Division Series, 7-5, over the Padres Saturday night.

After Yamamoto’s three-inning callback to his major-league debut in Korea against the Padres, five Dodgers relievers held the Padres scoreless on two hits over the final six innings.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is scheduled for 5 p.m. Sunday.

The win in Game 1 ended a six-game postseason losing streak for the Dodgers, stretching back to a Game 1 victory over the Padres in their 2022 NLDS.

The common theme in the back half of that six-game October losing streak was poor starting pitching. Yamamoto kept it going. The first two batters he faced reached base. A wild pitch and a passed ball set up a run-scoring ground out. Then Manny Machado sent a splitter from Yamamoto into the left-field pavilion for a two-run home run.

It brought back memories of Yamamoto’s start against the Padres in the Seoul Series when he lasted just one inning and gave up five runs.

He settled down this time – but only briefly. After Shohei Ohtani tied the game with a three-run home run in his second postseason at-bat, the Padres got to Yamamoto again in the third inning. A leadoff double by Fernando Tatis Jr. and a two-out walk of Jackson Merrill – when a 1-and-2 pitch call went against Yamamoto – set up a two-out, two-run double by Xander Bogaerts.

Over their past four postseason games, Dodgers starting pitchers have recorded a combined total of 23 outs while allowing 18 runs – 12 of those runs in the first inning of the games.

During the between-innings interview with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on the FOX broadcast, Roberts said that would be “the end of the line” for Yamamoto in Game 1.

It wasn’t the end of the line for the Dodgers.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, Tommy Edman beat out a bunt single. Miguel Rojas singled to bring Ohtani up with two on again. This time, Ohtani dropped a broken-bat single into center field to load the bases for Mookie Betts.

A wild pitch brought in Edman and moved the runners up. With the count 2-and-2, the Padres sent Betts to first base with an intentional walk. Freddie Freeman (2 for 5 playing on his injured ankle) bounced into a forceout but Teoscar Hernandez dropped a soft line drive just in front of Merrill in center field.

Two runs scored on the two-out hit – a rarity during their postseason losing streak – and the Dodgers had their first lead in a postseason game since the seventh inning of Game 4 in 2022 against the Padres. They added to it with an unearned run in the fifth inning, again building it from the bottom of their lineup.

The bottom four hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup – Will Smith, Gavin Lux, Edman and Rojas – were on base eight times on five hits, two walks and an error (turning the lineup over and forcing the Padres to pitch to Ohtani) and scored four of the Dodgers’ runs.

The Padres’ best record in baseball after the All-Star break featured frequent comebacks and late rallies – Merrill alone had six go-ahead or game-tying home runs in the eighth inning or later. But the Dodgers passed their lead from Ryan Brasier to Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips, retiring 11 consecutive hitters at one point.

But Michael Kopech couldn’t find the strike zone. He walked two of the three batters he faced. Roberts went to Blake Treinen who got Bogaerts to pop out before he walked Jake Cronenworth to load the bases — then struck out Solano to strand them all.

The Padres put the tying runs on base with two outs in the ninth, bringing up Machado who homered twice off Treinen during the regular season. He struck out to end the game.