Dodgers Recap: Dodgers Walk Off Phils to Punch Ticket to NLCS!

CHAVEZ RAVINE — Okay. You can turn off the defibrillator now. In a low-scoring, nailbiting, and thoroughly entertaining October matchup, two high-priced and high powered lineups found themselves overpowered by nearly perfect pitching for much of the night. In the end, the Dodgers emerged victorious, getting a walk-off win in the bottom of the eleventh in the unlikeliest of fashions: a error from the pitcher on an Andy Pages comebacker. It was bedlam.

But let’s take a breath and hit the rewind button on this one.

Both starters showed up with their A-games on Thursday night. Cristopher Sanchez for the Phils had the Dodgers guessing with that elite change-up, but Tyler Glasnow came in guns blazing as well. He mowed through the powerful Philadelphia batting, giving up only two hits in the first six innnings. All his pitches were working, but his heater was especially sharp, generating a lot of swing-and-miss from Phils batters who just couldn’t catch up to it. And, in a nice change, he was efficient as well. After a few too many pitches in the first, he got some quick outs to allow him to go into the later stages of his outing with his pitch count very manageable. As the game went into the seventh, it was a scoreless tie, with both pitchers looking very much in control.

However, in a move that is worth wondering about, Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts opted to finish the game off with his bullpen, and wouldn’t you know it? The Phillies got on the board. They didn’t exactly rip the cover off the ball on Emmet Sheehan, but the young pitcher helped the Phillies cause a bit with an error on a potential double play ball. That allowed a baserunner to move to second, and on two-strike pitch to Nick Castellanos, the beleaugered Phillies outfielder came through for a second time in this series, hitting a clutch double to score the game’s first run. That was all the Phillies got, but it loomed very large as the Dodgers hit the batrack in the seventh.

The Dodgers weren’t just going to roll over in this one. They mounted a rally of their own in the bottom of the seventh, the key hit being a nice piece of hitting from Kike Hernandez that brought an end to Cristopher Sanchez’s night. Sanchez was brilliant, but he left the game with traffic on the bases. With one out and two men on, Andy Pages hit a ground ball to the right side that moved the runners over. With flamethrower Jhoan Duran on the mound, the Phillies were going to pull out all the stops to prevent the run from scoring. Up came the struggling Shohei Ohtani, and even though the number didn’t say so, Rob Thomson decided to walk Ohtani and pitch to Mookie Betts. It was a decision he would come to regret.

Duran fell quickly behind Betts and never really felt like he was in control of the at-bat. When he left a fastball up to Mookie on a 3-2 count, suddenly the game was tied. But, the Dodgers missed out on a chance to do some real damage in this frame when Teoscar Hernandez chased three pitches out of the zone and struck out, leaving the bases juiced with Dodgers.

The next three innings belonged to the Monster of the Reiwa Era. Roki Sasaki entered the game in the eighth, and the dude was unhittable. Mixing triple-digit gas with unreal splitters, Roki cruised through the Phillies’ lineup, retiring nine straight in the eighth, ninth, and tenth innings. But the Dodgers couldn’t get anything going either, and the game went into the eleventh still knotted at one run apiece.

Alex Vesia came in to face the tough lefthanded bats at the top of the Philadelphia batting order. He retired Kyle Schwarber for an all-important first out. Then, after walking Bryce Harper, Vesia stranded the Phillies star at first, getting a lineout from off the bat of Alec Bohm, and then an exhilerating swinging strikeout to pinch hitter Harrison Bader.

Dodger Stadium was rocking in the bottom of the eleventh. Game 2 start Jesus Luzardo came on for his second inning of work, and wasn’t nearly as sharp as his 1-2-3 tenth. Tommy Edman and Max Muncy managed to sandwich a couple of singles between two outs, but with traffic on the bases, that was it for Luzardo. Orion Kerkering came into the ballgame in what will probably end up being the worst night of his professional career.

With Hyeseong Kim in to pinch run for Edman, Kike Hernandez worked a walk to load up the bases. And then, Andy Pages dug in, with the bags juiced and a chance to be a hero hanging in the balance. He did become a hero, but only indirectly so. Kerkering got ahead of Pages with a first pitch strike and then jammed a sinker in on his hands. Pages swung, sending a little ground ball toward the mound. Kerkering stopped it but the ball bounced off his glove, and in the time it took him to retrieve the ball, Kim was barrelling for home. Kerkering rushed his throw to the plate and it sailed high over J.T. Realmuto‘s head.

And THAT’S a win for LA!

There will be a lot more to say, but for now, just enjoy this win. Three hard-fought W’s against a powerful opponent. Gotta love it. Feeling very good about this team’s chances to go all the way. LFG!

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