The Dodgers will try to complete a sweep of their National League Wild-Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds Wednesday evening at Dodger Stadium, one night after a record-equaling performance.
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The Dodgers hit five home runs in Tuesday's 10-5 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-three series, tying their postseason record, while Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández became the second pair of teammates to hit multiple home runs within the first six innings of a postseason game.
"From the outset we had a really good game plan against Hunter, and we just didn't miss pitches when he made mistakes," Dodger manager Dave Roberts said, referring to Cincinnati starter Hunter Greene.
Ohtani hit a 2-1 100.4-mph four-seam fastball 375 feet over the right field fence leading off the bottom of the first.
The ball came off the bat at 117.7 mph, the hardest-hit ball off a 100+ mph pitch in the Statcast era, which began in 2015, and tied for the second-fastest pitch homered off of in the postseason under pitch tracking, which began in 2008, according to Sarah Langs, a researcher with Major League Baseball.
"It was a really hard pitch to hit, but I felt like I reacted pretty well," Ohtani said through an interpreter.
The Dodgers broke the game open in the third.
Hernandez hit a 1-0 four-seam fastball 390 feet for a three-run home run. The next batter, Tommy Edman, hit a four-seam fastball 388 feet over the right field fence to increase the Dodgers' lead to 5-0.
Connor Phillips, the Reds' third pitcher, entered the game with two outs in the fifth. He got ahead of Hernandez, the first batter he faced, 0-2, then threw a 99.4 mph four-seam fastball Hernandez hit 390 feet over the right center field fence for a solo homer.
Ohtanti hit a 1-1 sweeper from Phillips 454 feet over the center field fence for a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth that gave the Dodgers an 8-0 lead. The home run was the longest by a Dodger in the postseason during the Statcast Era.
The other pair of teammates to hit multiple home runs within the first six innings of a postseason game were Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series, according to Greg Harvey, a brand ambassador with Sports Reference, which operates detailed historical websites on baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer.
Left-hander Blake Snell allowed one hit over the first six innings. Cincinnati combined singles by Austin Hays and Spencer Steer, Elly De La Cruz's RBI force out and Tyler Stephenson's double off Snell for two runs in the seventh.
Alex Call and Ben Rortvedt had two-out RBI singles for the Dodgers in their half of the seventh.
Alex Vesia relieved Snell to begin the eighth and allowed a single to the first batter he faced, Matt McLain, the No. 9 hitter in the Reds' lineup. Vesia induced the next batter, TJ Friedl to ground out to Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers' first baseman.
Vesia then issued a nine-pitch walk to Noelvi Marte, prompting Roberts to replace Vesia with Edgardo Henriquez.
Henriquez walked the first batter he faced, Miguel Andujar, on a 101.8- mph full-count four-seam fastball to load the bases, then walked the next batter he faced, Sal Stewart, on a 102.8 full-count sinker, to force in McLain.
Spencer Steer followed by with an RBI single. Jack Dreyer then entered the game and walked De La Cruz, the first batter he faced, on a full-count fastball to force in the third run of the inning.
Dreyer then retired the next two batters he faced to end the inning.
"Alex wasn't sharp tonight and obviously Henriquez wasn't, didn't have any command," Roberts said.
Snell (1-0) allowed two runs and four hits over seven innings, striking out nine and walking one.
"Blake was fantastic tonight," Roberts said. " You could see he was in complete control. The fastball was great. The change-up was plus."
To Cincinnati manger Terry Francona, "the big difference maker was ... his ability to manipulate the change-up, like even vary it."
"He'd throw one that was 87 and one that was 82 off the first change- up," Francona said. "And he threw multiple, like, two, three, four in a row at times at times and all different speeds. And then you throw a 97 in there, and it becomes difficult."
Greene (0-1) was charged with the loss, allowing five runs and six hits, including three home runs, in three innings in his postseason debut.
"He didn't locate," Francona said. "He threw a couple of breaking balls -- one to Teoscar, and the next one to Edman -- that ... wasn't where he was trying to throw them. And when he didn't locate, he really paid a price for that."
Greene is a 2017 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.
The Dodgers out-hit the Reds, 15-7, with Hernández getting three hits and Ohtani, Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Kiké Hernandez two each in front of a crowd announced at 50,555.
Steer and McLain, an alumnus of UCLA and Beckman High School in Irvine, both had two hits.
The Dodgers also hit five home runs in Game 3 of the 2020 National League Championship Series and Game 5 of the 2021 National League Championship Series.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto will pitch for the Dodgers in Game 2 against fellow right-hander Zack Littell.
Yamamoto was 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA in the regular season, with the Dodgers going 17-13 in his 30 starts. He was selected for the All-Star Game for the first time in his two-season major league career.
Yamamoto is 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two starts against the Reds. In his only 2025 regular-season appearance against Cincinnati, Yamamoto allowed one run and four hits, struck out nine and walked two in seven innings and was credited with the victory in a 5-2 victory in Cincinnati.
Littell was acquired by the Reds July 30 from Tampa Bay in exchange for right-handed pitcher Brian Van Belle and left-handed pitcher Adam Serwinowski, who were both in the minors at the time of the trade.
Littell was 2-0 with a 4.39 ERA with Cincinnati. The Reds were 6-4 in his 10 starts.
Littell is 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 14 relief appearances against the Dodgers. He has never faced Ohtani.
The 6:08 p.m. game will be televised on ESPN and broadcast in English by KLAC-AM (570) and in Spanish by KTNQ-AM (1020).
Game 3 of the best-of-three series, if necessary, will be played Thursday, also at Dodger Stadium.
Teams winning Game 1 of a Wild-Card Series have gone on to win the series 18 of the 20 times under the current format, according to ESPN.
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