Shohei Ohtani helps the Dodgers beat the Padres in NLDS Game 1

The redemption tour began as the Dodgers imagined it.

With a huge swing from Shohei Ohtani.

In one of the opening innings of the postseason on Saturday night, the Dodgers were having nightmarish flashbacks to this time last year, as they faced another early deficit after another poor performance from their starting pitcher in Game 1.

The 53,028 towel-waving fans at Dodger Stadium were silenced. In the visitors’ dugout, the San Diego Padres were riding a sudden wave of momentum.

But then, in the kind of sequence that has eluded the Dodgers during their postseason failures in recent years, Ohtani came to the plate and, in the first playoff game of his career, promptly wiped the slate clean.

“We didn’t expect anything less,” outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “He’s the guy who’s going to guide us through all of this.”

In fact, in the Dodgers Win 7-5 In the opener of this year’s National League Division Series, Ohtani’s three-run homer in the second inning did more than erase the club’s early three-run deficit.

He restored confidence in the Dodgers dugout. It revitalized the traitorous crowd that was raving around them.

Entering Game 2 of a best-of-five series Sunday night at Chavez Ravine, they have exorcised some old October demons that the Dodgers are beginning to feel creeping back on.

“He brought an absolute thunderbolt into the field,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “Since then, it’s been like, ‘OK, we’ve got this.’” This isn’t the same as in years past.

Reversing the failures of past postseasons, of course, is the defining theme of this year’s Dodgers season, which entered Saturday night with the goal of overhauling recent playoff history.

Two years ago, the NLDS’ surprising elimination at the hands of those same Padres renewed questions about the Dodgers’ inability to translate regular season dominance into playoff success.

And when they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks last season, those frustrations increased.

“That kind of bitter taste you get when you get out of the postseason early, our guys are tired of it,” head coach Dave Roberts said earlier this week. “A lot of people have definitely doubted us, so I think our guys have kind of embraced that.”

That did not prevent Saturday’s game from starting with another disastrous first round, rivaling the sixth-place finish that the injured Clayton Kershaw succumbed to against Arizona last year.

In his MLB playoff debut, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was hit for five runs in three innings. The first three of them came at an ugly peak from the first, when the $325 million offseason signing (which Roberts thought might have tipped the ball in his favor) gave up a single to Luis Arraez and Fernando Tatis Jr. walked a bat. That also included a passed ball and a wild pitch, then allowed Manny Machado to serve up a potential backbreaker, hooking a breakaway that Machado fired to left for a two-run homer and a 3-0 Padres lead.

“They jumped on us and punched us in the mouth, whatever you want to call it,” Will Smith said. “But we knew we weren’t out of it.”

Not with Ohtani leading their lineup now.

After Smith led off the second inning with a walk, and Gavin Lux followed with a single, the Padres had no choice but to go to Ohtani when he came to the plate with two outs against starter Dylan Cease.

Stopping tried to initiate the at-bat carefully, throwing the first two pitches out of the zone before Ohtani fouled out on a fastball off his knee and called time. When Ohtani got back into the hole again, Cease challenged him with a high pitcher, similar to the one that created a flyaway on Ohtani’s first putt.

But this time, the three-time World Player of the Year was ready for it.

Using a linear-motor rocket that traveled 372 feet at nearly 112 mph, Ohtani easily cleared the fence in front of the right wing, tying the score at 3-3 with one game-changing swing.

“It gave us momentum back,” Roberts said. “And He gave us life.”

The Dodgers wouldn’t go on to take their first lead until the fourth inning, as they erased a 5-3 deficit with a walk-off triple capped by Hernandez’s go-ahead two-run single.

They were able to turn the game into the bullpen from there, earning six shutout innings of relief while adding an insurance period after a careless Machado foul in the fifth.

But without Ohtani’s early outburst, there may have been no mid-game plot twist.

After back-to-back postseason stretches in which the Dodgers failed to overcome a similar deficit in the playoffs, their $700 million offseason signing ensured that Saturday would be different.

Teoscar Hernandez ran to first base after hitting a single in the Dodgers’ fourth inning on Saturday.

(Gina Ferrazzi/Los Angeles Times)

“I really felt the intensity of the field before the game started,” Utnay said through interpreter Will Ireton of his first MLB playoff appearance. “I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Ohtani wasn’t the only inspiration in the Dodgers’ come-from-behind win.

Not only did Freddie Freeman play through a severely sprained ankle — something he thought until late Saturday morning would force him to miss the game — but he pitched two hits and a surprising stolen base.

“It definitely sends a message that, ‘Hey, it doesn’t matter what your name is, it doesn’t matter who you are, you better be prepared to do whatever is necessary,’” Muncy said of watching Freeman. “That was big. “It’s hard to put into words to see Freddie there for us, to know how much pain he’s in.”

The bullpen’s performance also provided a boost after Yamamoto’s early exit, culminating in a 39-pitch save from right-hander Blake Treinen that ended with Machado’s hit on a swing-and-miss sweeper.

“The fighting reflects the nature of this group,” Roberts said. “We need to fight. And that’s what we did tonight.”

There were other examples of resilience as well, the kind that has often been missing in the Dodgers’ postseason.

A three-run fourth-inning rally that included Hernandez’s two-run home run single? That was sparked by a single from Tommy Edman, and included a breaking hit from Ohtani, who finished the night second for five with three RBIs and two runs scored.

Trenin made a high-wire save as he was stranded with five starters? He was aided by an over-the-shoulder catch from shortstop Miguel Rojas in the eighth and a diving hitch by Lux at second base in the ninth.

“I think that speaks a lot about this team,” Rojas said. “The fire and fight from this team is unbelievable.”

To correct their annual woes in October, and pair another World Series title with a pandemic-shortened 2020, the Dodgers will need more consistent performances moving forward — especially from their starting rotation, which will turn to Jack Flaherty for Game 2 on Sunday.

But the biggest question entering this season is whether a team that has folded easily in past seasons can muster the grit and intensity to be a legitimate contender this year.

After Saturday’s first round, the scenario looked ominously familiar.

But then Ohtani turned it around, ensuring that this month’s potential redemption tour would begin with a character-defining win.

“Our guys were relentless all night,” Roberts said. “It’s hard not to panic when you’re down, especially in a postseason game. But we did a really good job of trying to take it one hit at a time.”