Steve Webb
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — Ugh. Usually, when you score ten runs and you’ve got Walker Buehler pitching, you should win the ballgame. Should. But that didn’t happen on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. For the second straight night, it seemed like the Dodger pitchers had no answers for the talented Phillies lineup. The Phillies pounded almost every pitcher they saw last night, and though the Dodgers had their chances to win this one, they ended up on the losing end of a 12-10 score.
Harper leads the way for the Phillies
Bryce Harper is good at baseball. The two-time MVP kept up his assault on the baseball on Friday night, pacing the Phillies attack with three hits and two walks in six plate appearances. But it wasn’t just Harper on Thursday night. The Phillies were hitting up and down the lineup, collecting 15 hits on the night. The big blasts of the night were a Kyle Schwarber two-run jack in the fourth inning to tie the game, and a Bryce Harper solo shot in the eighth to put the Phillies up by two. The Phils hit 5-for-16 with runners in scoring position, and no Dodger pitcher seemed to know how to get these guys out.
Of all the Dodger pitchers who toed the rubber on Friday, only Craig Kimbrel looked good. Everybody else was either wild (Vesia, Kahnle) or got shelled (Buehler, Phillips, Bickford, Graterol). It was not a great night for the pitching staff, which once was routinely shutting out its opponents.
Dodgers relentless at the plate
Just as they had on Thursday night, the Dodger hitters provided more than enough offense to win this one if only the pitching had held. They got 12 hits on the night, and scored in five different innings. The big hits early were a Chris Taylor solo home run to start the scoring in the third, and a Justin Turner double in the same inning that made it a 5-2 ballgame. After the Phillies tied it on the Schwarber homer, the Dodgers bounced right back in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead on an RBI single from Austin Barnes, who had a very good night at the plate.
The Phillies surged ahead in the later innings, and the Dodgers found themselves down two runs heading into the bottom of the ninth.
Turner’s blast ties it
Trea Turner led off the bottom of the ninth with a single to center. He was erased on a fielder’s choice grounder when Max Muncy was able to hustle down the line and beat out a double play ball, bringing Justin Turner to the plate. Turner, who’s hitting .318 in his last seven games, really seems to have finally found his stroke at the plate. In this one, he barreled up a 2-2 splitter from Jeurys Familia and sent it deep into the LA night. It landed among the paying customers and Dodger Stadium exploded. It was a 9-9 tie ball game. The Dodgers weren’t able to get anything else going in that inning, so the game went into extra frames.
Castellanos double puts Phils up for good
Let’s face it. Extra Innings have not been kind to the Dodgers. They were terrible at it last year, and they lost their first extra inning games this year. But, with the momentum from the Turner home run, the Dodgers went into the tenth with high hopes.
Brusdar Graterol took the mound. Graterol, who was great early in the season, has struggled in his last few outings. Friday night was no different. He got a ground ball to the right side for the first out, but that moved ghost runner Roman Quinn to third (oh, how I hate that rule!). Graterol didn’t want any part of the hot-hitting Harper, so he was intentionally walked to put runners at the corners with one out. Then came the fatal blow. Nick Castellanos ripped a sinker from Graterol down the left field line, and by the time Chris Taylor got the ball into the infield both Quinn and Harper had scored. To make matters worse, Castellanos swiped third base and scored when Austin Barnes throw went into the outfield. It was not 12-9 Phillies, and things looked very dire indeed.
Dodgers load the bases, but can’t get a key hit
With the Phillies’ pen almost completely depleted, Joe Girardi turned to rookie Francisco Morales in the tenth inning. And the rookie had some big-time nerves early in the inning. He walked both Gavin Lux and Austin Barnes to load up the bases with nobody out. But then, the inning went sideways on the Dodgers. Mookie Betts, who had had a good day at the plate, hit into a double play. Chris Taylor scored, but the Dodgers were now down to their last out and trailing by two.
Freddie Freeman walked to put runners on the corners again with Trea Turner coming up to the plate as the last hope for the Dodgers. The usually clutch Turner didn’t have it in this one. He grounded weakly to short. The ball was bobbled for a second, but shortstop Bryson Scott was able to shovel the ball to Johan Camargo at second just in time to get Freeman for a force out.
The game was over. A second straight night that the Dodgers had staged a valiant comeback only to see it blow up in their faces in the very next inning. Ugh.
Cans of Corn
- Urias gets the ball on Saturday. Let’s hope things go better.
- Will Smith sat on the bench throughout this game. Curious after he had such a great game on Thursday.
- Kimbrel looked good. Why didn’t he pitch in Thursday’s game?
- The Dodger pitching staff suddenly looks very, very human.
