PHILADELPHIA — Shohei Ohtani struck out not once, twice, three times but four — four! — straight times and almost snuffed a late Dodgers rally.
The Oh-4 nearly cost Los Angeles.
Good news for the Dodgers, Ohtani the ace was about as good as he needed to be on the mound — with a little pop from teammate Teoscar Hernández to help along the way — for the two-way star to win his playoff pitching debut.
With more than 45,000 Phillies fans against him, Ohtani settled down after a three-run second to strike out nine over six innings and lead the Dodgers to a 5-3 win over Philadelphia on Saturday night in Game 1 of their NL Division Series.
Ohtani retired 15 of the final 17 batters he faced, and the right-hander held Trea Turner, NL home run and RBI champion Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper to