Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — All this, and fireworks, too! I’m betting nobody asked for their money back after Tuesday’s Independence Day spectacular at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers and the Pirates engaged in a slugfest, and darn near won the thing on a dramatic Johnny De Luca home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, but an overworked Evan Phillips couldn’t hold the lead. Instead, the usually reliable Phillips coughed up a three-spot (caused in large part by back-to-back walks), and the Pirates held on to win a 9-7 thriller.
Besides De Luca, James Outman hit a pair of dingers and Mookie Betts continued his torrid hitting with a homer of his own. But unfortunately, the Pirates side of the scorebook was full of marks as well. Emmet Sheehan still hasn’t recaptured that magic of his first couple starts, and was searching for the strike zone much of the night. Some untimely walks led to early Pirate runs, and forced him out of the game before he completed the 4th. Not great, given the pressure that’s been put on the been already.
“It’s tough,” said manager Roberts. “Emmet wasn’t sharp tonight with the walks and getting behind and not being able to go deep into a game. … We did the best we could. We got to a position to win the game. It just didn’t happen.”
With yet another lackluster start from the rotation, the exhausted bullpen was called on to cover a bunch of innings, and they just didn’t have the horses to do it. Evan Phillips was forced to pitch for the third consecutive night, something he has never done before. He went on to allow three earned runs and blew the save in the ninth, his second of the season.
“I really just wanted to challenge myself to become available for the team, if needed,” Phillips said. “I was called upon tonight. It just didn’t work out.”
