HITTIN' POWER SWITCH

Dodgers belt five home runs to back Snell’s dominance in rout of Reds

- JACK HARRIS

TEOSCAR HERNÁNDEZ endures a sunflower seeds shower as he celebrates his second home run of the game in the fifth. The Dodgers built an eight-run lead before the bullpen made it closer.

For seven innings, it was a rout. Then, it almost got too close for comfort.

Welcome to the Dodgers’ 2025 postseason, where the offense can be dynamic, the rotation is expected to be dominant, and the bullpen ... well, will be a torturous adventure.

Starting another October campaign before the calendar had even flipped from September, thanks to their inability to earn a first-round bye in pursuit of a second straight World Series title, the Dodgers took Game 1 of the best-of-three National League wildcard series on Tuesday night, powering past a seemingly outmatched Cincinnati Reds club with a 10-5 victory at Dodger Stadium.

For most of the night, things went according to script.

Shohei Ohtani hit the first of his two home runs to lead off the game. Blake Snell was superb in a seven-inning, two-run start. And a rollicking two-batter sequence in the bottom of the third inning broke the score wide open, with Teoscar Hernandez launching a three-run bomb (also his first of two long balls) moments before Tommy Edman went back-to-back with a solo shot.

“Tt was a well-executed game plan,” manager Dave Roberts said.

At least it had been, until the bullpen got involved.

Leading 10-2 in the top of the eighth, and needing only six simple outs from their troublesome relief corps, the Dodgers let things get uncomfortably tense. They gave up three runs in an inning that included four walks (two of them with the bases loaded) from three different relievers. They let a game that had been a blowout, suddenly turn into one in which the tying run was on deck.

Ultimately, the Dodgers did hold on.

Still, Tuesday had the feeling of a promise and a warning.