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Philadelphia Baseball Review | Phillies News, College Baseball News, Philly Baseball News
Bryson Stott - Phillies - Philadelphia Baseball Review
The Phillies arrived at Dodger Stadium on Friday night carrying one of baseball's best stories of the last month.

They left carrying a familiar problem.

For six innings, Zack Wheeler battled one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball. But against the Dodgers, "battling" isn't always enough. Four mistakes ended up in the seats, and four solo home runs were all Los Angeles needed to hand the Phillies a 4-2 loss in the opener of a three-game series between National League contenders.

The Dodgers collected only five hits all night against Wheeler.

Four left the yard.

That was the story.

Freddie Freeman started it in the first inning. The future Hall of Famer entered the night owning one of the most remarkable individual matchups in baseball, carrying a .389 lifetime average against Wheeler. He added another chapter with an opposite-field home run that disappeared into the left-field seats and immediately put the Phillies behind.

An inning later, Max Muncy launched another solo shot.

In the third, Shohei Ohtani joined the parade.

In the fifth, Will Smith made it four.

By then, Wheeler had allowed more home runs in one night than he had surrendered through his first six starts of the season combined.

And yet, outside of those four swings, he was largely dominant.

The Dodgers managed only one other hit against him.

That's what made the night feel so unusual.

Friday marked the 290th start of Wheeler's major-league career. It was only the second time he has allowed four home runs in a game, the first coming nearly two years ago in Baltimore. Usually, Wheeler's mistakes disappear into gloves. On this night, they disappeared into the California night.

The Phillies, meanwhile, spent most of the evening trying to solve Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski.

They never really did.

For five innings, Wrobleski looked more like a veteran playoff arm than a pitcher making just another regular-season start. He attacked the strike zone, got ahead consistently and never allowed the Phillies to establish any offensive rhythm.

Philadelphia didn't record a hit until there were two outs in the sixth inning.

The hitter was hardly a surprise.

Kyle Schwarber finally interrupted Wrobleski's masterpiece with a towering drive to dead center field, a 411-foot blast that cleared the wall and temporarily breathed life into a dormant offense.

The homer was Schwarber's major-league-leading 22nd of the season and his 11th during May.

It was also the Phillies' first hit after 17 outs and 79 pitches.

Unfortunately for Philadelphia, it was essentially the only damage they managed against Wrobleski, who completed seven innings while striking out a career-high nine hitters and never issuing a walk.

The Phillies finally mounted one last push in the eighth.

Brandon Marsh doubled into the gap against hard-throwing right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, and Steward Berroa delivered an RBI single in his Phillies debut to trim the deficit to 4-2.

That brought Schwarber to the plate as the potential tying run.

The Dodgers responded by summoning left-hander Alex Vesia.

Schwarber battled to a full count before chasing a borderline pitch for strike three, ending the threat and effectively ending the Phillies' night.

Tanner Scott handled the ninth, retiring Trea Turner, Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm in order.

And so a matchup that looked every bit like an October preview turned into another reminder of the challenge facing the Phillies' offense.

They have scored only 12 runs through the first four games of this West Coast trip. On a night when Wheeler allowed only five hits, the Phillies still never seriously threatened to win because their lineup couldn't generate enough traffic.

The loss dropped Philadelphia to 29-28.

The bigger picture remains encouraging. The Phillies are still 20-9 since Don Mattingly took over as interim manager.

But against a Dodgers club that rarely wastes mistakes, four swings proved decisive.

The Phillies will try to even the series Saturday when Jesús Luzardo takes the mound against Roki Sasaki.

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