It spoiled an outstanding outing by Jesús Luzardo, who was masterful for much of the night—retiring 17 straight at one point before hitting a wall in the seventh, when everything unraveled.
Yes, the bullpen imploded. But the offense managed just one hit through seven innings—and if you go back to Game 1, they had just three hits over 14 innings.
That’s not a recipe for October success, no matter how rowdy or chaotic Citizens Bank Park becomes. The decibels don’t score runs. The pandemonium doesn’t record outs.
Despite a frenetic ninth-inning rally, the Dodgers beat the Phillies, 4-3, in Game 2 of the National League Division Series and now take a commanding 2-0 series lead back to Los Angeles.
“I love the fight in the eighth and ninth inning,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson. “They fought like hell, and hopefully that carries over into Wednesday.”
Things were scoreless until the seventh, when Teoscar Hernández stayed back on a 2-2 changeup from Luzardo and flicked it into center for a leadoff single. Freddie Freeman came next with a double down the right-field line, ending Luzardo’s night. He left to a standing ovation as Orion Kerkering came on in relief with two runners aboard.
Kiké Hernández followed with a one-out grounder to short that Trea Turner had to charge and fire home on, but Hernández slid in just under the tag as Turner’s throw pulled J.T. Realmuto slightly to his right. It was only one run, but on a night when the Phillies couldn’t get the bats going, it felt like a dozen.
“The angle I was on and running over the mound, I threw it overhand and wish I threw it more sidearm,” Turner said. “The angle pulled me over a bit [toward first base] and forced me to throw it overhand. Those small things are [the] difference in games like this.”
Will Smith punctuated the inning with a two-run single to center, stretching the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0. Shohei Ohtani then collected his first hit of the series with an RBI single to make it 4-0.
Blake Snell was strong for the Dodgers on the mound, surrendering one hit over six innings. He walked four and struck out nine. Luzardo allowed two runs on three hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out five.
Kyle Schwarber, a vital cog at the top of the Phillies’ lineup, remains hitless in the series.
“There’s still a lot of baseball to be played,” Schwarber said. “They’ve got some quality starters and it’s up to us to come up with ways to get on base and [to] try to jump on any type of mistake so we can get some momentum and hold it for a bit.
“I’m not looking to go up there and slug, I’m looking to take my [at-bat]. You want to feel like you take a quality [at-bat]. I feel like these first two games [Ohtani and Snell] have been on, and once we get there later in the game with some traffic on the bases, we get the momentum.”
Turner collected an RBI single in the eighth for the Phillies, pushing across Max Kepler, who reached on a triple into the right-field corner to cut the deficit to 4-1.
The Phillies tried to rally in the ninth. Alec Bohm led off with a single, and J.T. Realmuto followed with a double, setting the table for Nick Castellanos, who lashed a two-run double to left. But Castellanos was thrown out trying to advance on a bunt attempt by Bryson Stott. Harrison Bader followed with a pinch-hit single, and Stott moved to third on a Max Kepler fielder’s choice before Turner grounded out to second to end it.
Too little, too late.
The Phillies hit just .186 in last year’s NLDS loss to the Mets, and through two games of this series, they’re batting .187. If that doesn’t change fast, this October will end the same way last year’s did—quietly.
“It’s the first one to win three, and obviously they aren’t there yet,” Harper said. “We need to play the best baseball we can and understand that we’re a good team. Anything can happen in a couple days.”
Thomson announced Aaron Nola will start Game 3 on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.
“I’m going to go out and compete as best I can to keep the guys in a position to win the baseball game,” Nola said. “Obviously we’ve got to get a win, so take it inning-by-inning, pitch-by-pitch.”
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