The Philadelphia Phillies faced Shohei Ohtani in Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night, looking to apply lessons learned from their previous encounter. Last month, Ohtani had pitched five hitless innings against the Phillies at Dodger Stadium.
In this postseason matchup, the Phillies started strong in the second inning. Alec Bohm drew a six-pitch walk, followed by Brandon Marsh’s single to center. J.T. Realmuto then hit a 100.2 mph fastball into right-center for a triple.
“I wasn’t really sitting on anything,” Realmuto said. “In that situation, both Bohm and Marsh had really good at-bats. I was really just trying to get a good pitch to hit and trying to get them over.”
Bohm scored on the play, and an error by Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández allowed the ball to reach the wall, letting Marsh score as well and Realmuto advance to third base. This marked only the second time a Phillies catcher has tripled in postseason history; Carlos Ruiz did so during Game 6 of the 2009 World Series.
Realmuto’s triple was notable for its exit velocity—111.5 mph off the bat—making it his third-hardest batted ball since Statcast began tracking such data and his hardest since 2020. It also represented the first extra-base hit Ohtani has allowed in his career on a pitch clocked at least 100 mph.
At age 34 years and 200 days, Realmuto became the third-oldest catcher with a triple in postseason history behind Gabby Hartnett (1938) and Jack Meyers (1916).
Harrison Bader added a sacrifice fly that brought Realmuto home, giving Philadelphia an early 3-0 lead.
Neither Bohm nor Realmuto had previously faced Ohtani; Bohm missed last month’s game due to injury while Realmuto was given rest.
Despite their promising start, Philadelphia managed only three more hits for the remainder of their 5-3 loss to Los Angeles.
