Stealing the show

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Teoscar Hernandez belted a three-run home run and Shohei Ohtani shrugged off a shaky start to pitch six strong innings as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-3, in Game 1 of their Major League Baseball (MLB) playoff series on Saturday.

Japanese superstar Ohtani made history in his long awaited playoff pitching debut, becoming the first player to start at last one game as a pitcher and one as a non-pitcher in a single postseason.

He was dinged for three runs in the second inning, issuing a leadoff walk to Alec Bohm that was followed by a two-strike single from Brandon Marsh and a two-run triple from J.T. Realmuto that got past Hernandez.

Realmuto scored on Harrison Bader's sacrifice fly, but Ohtani settled in, retiring nine straight batters.

He pitched six innings with nine strikeouts and a walk and Hernandez amply atoned for his defensive lapse when he drove a pitch from Phillies reliever Matt Strahm over the right centerfield wall with two outs in the seventh to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead they wouldn't relinquish.

"I'm just trying to get a good pitch to hit," Hernandez said.

"He left one over the plate and I put a good swing on it."

Enrique Hernandez had pulled the Dodgers within one with a two-run double down the left-field line in the sixth inning.

That ended the night of Phillies starting pitcher Cristopher Sanchez, who had kept the potentially explosive Dodgers offense in check until then.

Ohtani epitomized the Dodgers' offensive frustrations, striking out four times.

The Phillies threatened in the eighth, loading the bases with two out against Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow. Glasnow was pulled for Alex Vesia who induced a fly out from Edmundo Sosa to end the danger.

Japan's Roki Sasaki pitched the ninth for the Dodgers and earned his first career save.

The winner of the best-of-five National League division series will face either the top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers or Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series.

The Brewers dominated the Cubs 9-3, matching the biggest inning in the franchise's postseason history with six runs in the bottom of the first and added three more in the second.

Jackson Chourio became the first player to have three hits in the first two innings of an MLB playoff game.

The Toronto Blue Jays made a statement in their first playoff victory since 2016, pounding the New York Yankees 10-1 in Toronto in the opener of their American League division series.

Alejandro Kirk homered twice for the Blue Jays, who benefitted from a bye as the Yankes battled past the Red Sox in the wild card round.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered in the first inning and Kirk doubled the advantage with a solo homer in the second.

The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth inning but managed just one run when Anthony Volpe scored on a walk issued to Cody Bellinger.

That pulled them within 2-1, but the Blue Jays put up four runs in the seventh and Kirk added his second home run in a four-run eighth as the Blue Jays turned it into a blowout for their first playoff win since 2016.

"It feels amazing to me, but it's work paying off," Kirk said.

"It's hard work that I've been putting in for these years. More important than that, what I'm happy is that we came out with a victory."

The winner of the series will face either the Seattle Mariners or Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship series.