Steve Webb
PHILADELPHIA, PA — What a difference a few days makes! Last weekend, the Dodgers and the Phillies were knocking the ball all over the yard, with the Dodgers ending up on the losing end of three of four games at Dodger Stadium. Playing without Bryce Harper, the Phillies are now struggling to string a couple of hits together. Julio Urias, who got absolutely shelled in his last start against Philadelphia, was lights out in this one, leading the way to a 4-1 victory for the Dodgers in the first game of this weekend series.
Dodgers get on the board early
The Dodgers got on the board quickly on Friday night, but started a bad habit of leaving a lot of meat on the bone in this game. With one out, they got a Freddie Freeman single and back-to-back walks to load up the base. But the inning kind of fizzled after that. Justin Turner grounded out weakly to the right side. A run scored, but the second out was recorded. The threat ended with a Chris Taylor strikeout and the Dodgers had to be satisfied with one run.
In the second inning, the Dodgers really started to get to Philly starter Ranger Suarez, who had pitched so well last weekend. In the top of the second, they had their biggest inning of the night. The rally started with a one-out single from third baseman Hanser Alberto. Alberto was erased on a field choice, but Gavin Lux beat the relay throw and stopped the double play. Now with two out, the lineup turned over and Mookie Betts came to the plate. And, as he has been doing lately, he banged another extra base hit. This time, it was a double to left that move Luxy to third. Then, all it took was a Freddie Freeman single to drive them both in for a 3-0 Dodger lead.
Dodgers miss chances but Urias shuts down Phils
After the second, the Dodgers couldn’t seem to get the clutch hit in this one. They were only 1-7 with RISP, so even though they had nine hits and seven walks, they weren’t pushing many runs across. However, Julio Urias made sure that it didn’t matter. After one of the worst outings of his career las weekend, Julio was efficient and effective, sending the Phillies down with a lot of weak contact. He only went five in this one, but went out of the game with a lead. His final line on the night: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 5 K.
Bullpen strong until ninth
The Dodgers were able to add one more run in the top of the ninth on a Trea Turner sac fly, and went into the final inning with a nice 4-0 lead. The reason for that comfy cushion was a lot nice pitching from the Dodger pen. Yency Almonte, Evan Phillips, and Alex Vesia all pitched shutout ball, and made the Dodgers’ meager runs hold up all the way into the final inning.
Things got a little dicey in the bottom of the ninth. The frame started off well enough with two straight outs for reliever Phil Bickford, but the inning sort of went south on him after that. He gave up a double to Kyle Schwarber, and then another double to JT Realmuto, and suddenly things were not so comfortable. For a hot minute, it looked like Realmuto might have been declared out at second on his double, but on appeal, the Phillies’ backstop was given the bag.
Kimbrel gets final out
Though he didn’t want to do it, Dave Roberts was force to call on Craig Kimbrel to close the door on the Phillies. He got weak contact from Johan Camargo, but it turned into an infield hit that put runners on the corners. That brought up the tying run in the person of Odubel Herrera. Kimbrel fell behind 2-0, but Herrera helped him out by swinging at a high fastball that might have been out of the zone. After a foul ball on the four-seamer, Kimbrel went to the knuckle curve to get the game-ending punch out. It was a good start to the road trip.
Cans of Corn…
- Freeman swiped a bag in the ninth, and advanced when Realmuto’s throw went into center. That heads-up play allowed the critical fourth run to score on Trea’s fly ball.
- Freddie was 3-for-5 with 2 RBI in this one; another rock-solid game for the 2020 MVP.
- Tommy Kahnle to the IL after only three appearances. Not great.
- Old friend Pedro Baez, most recently of Houston, signed a minor league deal with the team today. Wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a callup somewhere along this road trip.
- Mitch White will start a bullpen game on Saturday. We’ll see how deep he can throw.
- Game time is 3:05 pm on Saturday, 10:35 am on Sunday.
