Steve Webb
PHILADELPHIA, PA — The entire road trip the Dodgers offense was humming. Even though they got walked off three times in a week, they were scoring runs in buckets. All of that was largely absent on Sunday, as they couldn’t really get anything going until late in the game, and when they did it was too little, too late.
Couple that with giving the entire game to the overworked pen, and you could pretty much predict the result: a 7-3 Phillies win and a 2-4 road trip. With the loss the Dodgers fall even further behind the D-backs in the NL West.
Offensively, Freddie Freeman went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, and Jason Heyward smacked a long ball as well, but that was pretty much it offensively. They had some chances to make it interesting, but failed to capitalize. And it seemed every time the Dodgers would score one run, the Phillies would tack on two or three of their own. So, in the end, it wasn’t much of a game.
Caleb Ferguson was the opener in this one, and got tagged with the loss for surrendering one run in the first. Tayler Scott gave up two, Nick Robertson three, and Alex Vesia one to account for the rest of the Phillies’ runs. It wasn’t like they were ripping the cover off the ball, but a run is a run in the scorebook, and last time I checked seven runs is better than three.
“Very surprised,” manager Dave Roberts said when asked about the 2023 pitching woes, which were on full display on this road trip. “But I think the most important thing is, what can we do going forward? The expectation is that the guys who have underperformed to this point will perform better. And it’s my job to keep putting them in the right spots, as far as relievers. But like I said, they’ve got to do their job, too. As for our starters, [I’m] surprised, and certain guys got to be better, too.”
“We certainly have the arm talent as far as 13 pitchers,” Roberts continued. “But every day, I think it’s fair to say that we’re gathering information — and that’s the way it should be. Guys are getting opportunities, but it’s their job to perform. If they don’t, then other people might get opportunities.”
