Dodgers heroes, zeros from Game 1 win: Teoscar Hernndez has another October moment

Heroes, zeros and the inside pitch from the Dodgers’ 5-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series:The Dodgers have had plenty of key contributors during their run to back-to-back World Series titles the last couple years.Few, however, have delivered big swings as consistently as Teoscar Hernández.The first game of this October’s postseason was no exception.After three quiet innings to begin the day from the Dodgers offense, Hernández flipped the momentum in the bottom of the fourth inning, belting a two-run home run to give the Dodgers the lead.The veteran slugger now has nine home runs in the playoffs the last three years (second-most on the Dodgers after Shohei Ohtani) and 27 RBIs in 34 games (most on the team in that stretch).“Teo is good in big moments because he’s not afraid to fail,” manager Dave Roberts said.

“I think he has a short memory in the sense of, if something doesn’t go well, he has a way to just kind of reset, recalibrate.I think he just focuses a little bit more.”Hernández had to have a short memory a lot this year, slumping so bad after returning from a hamstring strain that the club at one point considered platooning him in left field.“I was fighting for my life,” he said, “just to help this team to win games.”Down the stretch, however, he rediscovered his swing, hitting .341 over his final 11 games.

And now, he has added to his long list of big postseason moments.“I always want to be the guy to be in those moments,” Hernández said.“I worked really hard for it, and I think the bigger the moment, the more focused I get.Roberts didn’t name a designated closer entering the playoffs.

But he had Tanner Scott’s name at the top of the list.Whether that remains the case going forward is now to be seen, after Scott flirted with disaster in the top of the ninth inning by giving up a home run to Ozzie Albies that cut the Dodgers’ 5-1 lead in half, and was later removed with two ...