LOS ANGELES — When Kiké Hernandez blasted a home run that served as the first salvo in the Dodgers’ National League Division Series-clinching victory, it was no surprise to Dave Roberts or anyone who has watched the October version of Hernandez in recent years.
“The reason we got him this year,” the Dodgers manager said, “was to win 11 games in October.”
Hernandez, 33, has played 11 years in the majors with a .238 batting average and a .713 OPS. Those rather pedestrian numbers pale in comparison to his .277 average and .899 OPS in 75 postseason games. His second-inning homer on a first-pitch fastball from Yu Darvish on Friday night was the 14th of his postseason career.
Hernandez hit three homers in the Dodgers’ 2017 NL Championship Series clincher, and he hit five in 11 games for the 2021 Boston Red Sox.
“These are the games we’ve been dreaming of as kids,” Hernandez said. “I got spoiled very early in my career to get the experience and get the opportunity to do this a lot. I think this is my ninth postseason now. It gets a little easier as you do it over and over again. It allows you to realize that it’s the same game. The intensity and the importance of the game is a little – it gets a little enhanced.
“But I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s because I’m Puerto Rican. I don’t know what it is, but it just brings the best out of me and I’m glad that it does.”
Roberts said the Dodgers can accept what he is in the regular season because they know what he can do in October.
“The focus every day (over 162 games) seems to be tougher for him,” Roberts said. “But when you’re talking about the biggest of stages, everyone knows Kiké, he loves the spotlight. And some people love it. Some people run from it.
“When you’re talking about this market, the postseason, people in Puerto Rico watching him all over the country, that’s when he’s his best.”
Hernandez left the Dodgers as a free agent following the pandemic-shortened 2020 season – just after helping them to win the World Series – and he returned in a midseason trade in 2023. Hernandez was a free agent again last winter, signing with the Dodgers after spring training began.
Roberts said it was a “bet” that he and the front office made to bring him back, figuring that he would come through at this time of year.
“When you talk about postseason in whatever sport, you can’t be afraid to fail,” Roberts said. “And this guy always rises to the occasion.”
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It wasn’t always this way.
Hernandez was 4 for 21 in his first two postseasons with the Dodgers, in 2015 and 2016.
He said he took a new approach into 2017. He simply willed himself to success, visualizing big performances.
“It’s very easy for you to see yourself failing in the postseason,” Hernandez said. “And the anxiety, the self-doubt, all these things start creeping in your mind. … Whenever those thoughts come in, I visualize myself having success over and over again. You get to the field the next day and you have already seen the day happen. So nothing overwhelms over you, no moment gets too big.”
And what did he visualize the night before this homer?
“Kind of that,” he said. “But the bases were loaded.”
KIKÉ GIVES THE DODGERS THE LEAD!
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 12, 2024
📲 Watch in 4K on the FOX Sports App: https://t.co/HFrV5scCzO pic.twitter.com/r2ygEqI7xw
Kiké on what’s different about this Dodgers team:
“The fact that we don’t give a f—.” pic.twitter.com/5JZ4ZgmORD
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 12, 2024
