Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman often refers to the playoffs as the “theater of October.”
On the first day of the month Wednesday night, Game 2 of the National League wild-card series was only four batters old when the Dodgers had some dramatic adversity strike.
With two outs in the top of the first, Yoshinobu Yamamoto induced a routine fly ball down the right-field line. Outfielder Teoscar Hernández positioned himself under it. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the inning would have ended there.
This time, however, Hernández committed a horrifying mistake. The ball hit off the heel of his mitt. The Cincinnati Reds suddenly had runners at second and third base. And what should have been a clean opening frame instead turned into a two-run disaster, with Sal Stewart slapping a single through the infield in the next at-bat.
For the Dodgers, it was an immediate test.
Of their mental resolve after a self-inflicted miscue. Of their veteran composure in the face of an early deficit. Of the kind of resiliency that was so key in their World Series run last year, and will need to be again for them to repeat as champions.
In an eventual 8-4 comeback victory, they successfully, triumphantly and assuredly passed.
Behind 6 ⅔ clutch innings from Yamamoto, a go-ahead two-run rally in the fourth inning keyed by a Kiké Hernández double, and a back-breaking four-run explosion in the sixth after Yamamoto had escaped a bases-loaded jam, the Dodgers eliminated the Reds in this best-of-three opening round.
Despite another late tightrope act from the bullpen, which gave up two runs in the eighth before Roki Sasaki finished things off in the ninth, the team booked their place in the NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Dodgers did not make it easy on themselves. They were dealt a full range of October theatrics. But they prevailed nonetheless with a hard-fought victory — the kind that could catapult them into the rest of this month.
Facing their early 2-0 deficit, the Dodgers never panicked.
The turnaround started with Yamamoto, who finally ended the first inning by striking out Elly De La Cruz, then didn’t let another runner reach base for the next four innings.
The offense, meanwhile, chipped away at veteran Reds right-hander Zack Littell, stressing him with constant early traffic before eventually breaking through in the third, when Ben Rortvedt sliced a leadoff double down the left-field line and Mookie Betts scored him with an RBI single.
The Dodgers then went in front in the fourth, thanks to a big swing from a familiar postseason hero. After a leadoff single from Max Muncy, Kiké Hernández smacked an elevated fastball into the right-center field gap. Muncy scored all the way from first to tie the game. Hernández, whom the Dodgers have re-signed each of the past two offseasons thanks largely to his playoff reputation, had his latest moment of fall-time magic.
Hernández would come around to score in the next at-bat, when Miguel Rojas dumped a base hit inside the right-field line.
From there, the score remained 3-2 until the sixth inning — when the game climaxed in two memorable sequences.
First, Yamamoto had to wiggle out of red-alarm danger, facing a bases-loaded jam with no outs after the Reds led off with three-straight singles. At that point, the right-hander’s pitch count was climbing. Blake Treinen started to get loose in the bullpen. But manager Dave Roberts, as he promised entering the playoffs, kept his faith in his starter.
Yamamoto rewarded him for it.
After Austin Hays bounced a grounder to Betts that the shortstop threw home for a forceout, Yamamoto slammed the door with back-to-back strikeouts. Stewart fanned on one curveball. De La Cruz couldn’t check his swing on another. Yamamoto celebrated with a primal scream. A crowd of 50,465 erupted around him.
The cheers continued into the bottom half of the inning, as the Dodgers finally pulled away with an outburst from their offense. It started with a single from Kiké Hernández, marking his second-straight two-hit game to begin these playoffs. It was aided by a throwing error from Stewart at first base, allowing Rortvedt to reach safely and put runners on the corners. Shohei Ohtani then knocked in one insurance run on an RBI single. Betts added another with a one-hopper that got past third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes for an RBI double.
And fittingly, it was Teoscar Hernández who delivered the death blow, following an intentional walk to Freddie Freeman with a two-run, bases-loaded, redemption-rich double.
The Dodgers eventually stretched the lead to 8-2, when Betts drove in his third run of the game with his third double of the night in the bottom of the seventh — giving him four total hits in a contest for the third time in his career.
Then came the bullpen, which once again thrust itself into danger after Emmet Sheehan gave up two runs in the eighth on two singles and two walks; his command so shaky, Roberts decided to pull him in the middle of an at-bat against Will Benson after he nearly plunked the batter in an 0-and-2 count.
However, it was mostly smooth sailing from there. Alex Vesia took over, and retired the side by striking out two of three batters (even though there was another walk in-between).
The ninth inning, meanwhile, belonged to Sasaki, who retired the side in order with 100-mph fastballs and his trademark splitter, ending a night of theatrics by sending the Dodgers to the next round.
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