Shohei Ohtani impressed in his first Major League Baseball playoff game on Saturday night with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani, who previously played for the Los Angeles Angels, had never appeared in a playoff game until last night. The Dodgers faced their local rivals the San Diego Padres, ultimately winning the game 7-5.
According to The Los Angeles Times, Ohtani played in front of a sold-out crowd, with 53,028 Dodgers fans coming to cheer on their team.
The Dodgers were in trouble after the first inning as the Padres went up 3-0. But everything changed in the second inning when Ohtani came to the plate.
The three-time American League MVP hit a three-run homer to tie up the game.
“I don’t even try to explain him anymore,” Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen said of Ohtani, per ESPN. “Just watch and enjoy.”
Another teammate, Max Muncy, told ESPN that Ohtani helped the team settle into the game.
“He injected an absolute lightning bolt into the stadium,” Muncy said. “And from then on it was like, ‘All right, we got this. We’re good.'”
According to The Los Angeles Times, Ohtani told reporters after the game that he enjoyed the electric atmosphere.
“I could really feel the intensity of the stadium before the game began,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton about his MLB playoff debut. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.”
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