'Kiké dust': Hernández continues clutch postseason hitting for Dodgers

ATLANTA (AP) — Kiké Hernández is no stranger to postseason success.

The veteran Dodgers utilityman took advantage of his first start in these playoffs and delivered the key blow in Los Angeles' 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of their NL Division Series on Tuesday night.

Hernández, playing third base and batting ninth, hit a two-run homer off Braves ace Chris Sale in the fourth inning that opened the scoring and gave the Dodgers a lead they never relinquished. Los Angeles leads the best-of-five series 2-1 and has a chance to advance to the National League Championship Series on Wednesday.

Hernández said he was trying to make sure he didn't hit into a double play with a runner on first and one out so he could turn over the lineup to leadoff man Mookie Betts. Sale threw a changeup for a ball on the first pitch.

"He kind of showed me where that changeup was going to start for a ball, and then the next pitch, kind of like my eyes recognized, it popped, and lucky that (I) put a good swing on it," Hernández said.

Sale felt he did what he could against the Dodgers lineup, but regretted that delivery to Hernández.

"Really only one pitch I would take back from that entire outing," said Sale, who went five innings and gave up three runs on seven hits. "This was a game of adjustments. They seem like they made the adjustment. They were battling, but again, just one swing changed the whole trajectory of that game."

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is well aware of the success Hernández has had in October.

"I said earlier, we needed a little bit of that Kiké dust," Roberts said. "He's always prepared. And he loves moments like this. He has a way to lock in."

It was the 17th postseason homer for Hernández in 104 games, which would put him on a 26-home run pace over 162 games. In his 13-year career, his home run rate comes out to 16 per 162 games.

According to OptaStats, Hernández is the only player in MLB history to have at least 10% of his career home runs come in the postseason (with a minimum of 100 home runs). The next-highest mark is held by Houston Astros star Jose Altuve.

Hernández has a career OPS of .706 in the regular season and .826 in the postseason. He has 12 postseason homers for the Dodgers, which ranks fourth in franchise history.

"It's something I take a lot of pride in, but don't really think about it too much," Hernández said. "That's probably something that once I'm done playing, it's going to be something that's going to look back and be really proud of my career because of how my career has gone in terms of finding myself each and every year in October, and experience helps a lot."

Sale and Hernández last faced each other in the postseason during the 2018 World Series between the Dodgers and Red Sox. Sale came on in the ninth inning of Game 5 and struck out the side, including Hernández, to lock up the championship for Boston.

Hernández wasn't ready to say Tuesday's home run served as revenge for that night.

"Dude, I mean, that was eight years ago," he said. "(Sale) made JT (Justin Turner), myself and Manny (Machado) look like Little Leaguers going against a big leaguer. So no, that's not something that I've even thought about ever since that happened.

"I played with (Sale). We've gone through a lot together in terms of health. He's aging like fine wine. He's gone on to win his first Cy Young past his mid-30s. He's winning Gold Gloves and everything. No, I was not thinking about that. I am just glad that I was able to put a good swing on a pitch to give us the lead."

Freddie Freeman, who homered two batters after Hernández, said he's open to any advice from the player he called a "Swiss Army knife" when it comes to postseason success.

"I'll wait for him to explain it so then we can maybe take a little bit from him," Freeman said.