The Los Angeles Dodgers lost Game 3 of the National League Division Series, 8-2, as the Philadelphia Phillies kept their season alive on the road at Dodger Stadium.
The Phillies tagged Yoshinobu Yamamoto for three runs, which proved to be more than enough against a Dodgers offense that was silent for a majority of the game.
NLDS Game 3 Recap
The Phillies went with right-hander Aaron Nola in Game 3, who had a 6.01 ERA across 17 starts this season. Nola shut the Dodgers down for two innings, getting out of trouble in the first as the Dodgers stranded a Mookie Betts one-out triple.
Yamamoto, on the other hand, was cruising the first time through the Phillies order, shutting them out for three innings while allowing just one base runner on a Bryce Harper walk.
The Dodgers scored first in the bottom of the third as the Phillies went to Ranger Suarez, and Edman met him on the first pitch with a solo home run to left field.
The Phillies wasted no time responding in the top of the fourth inning, as Kyle Scwharber hit his first home run of the postseason, a 455-foot bomb to right field that went 117.2 mph off his bat.
Harper and Alec Bohm hit back-to-back singles, and a throwing error from Andy Pages brought in a second run. Brandon Marsh then hit a sacrifice fly, and the Phillies quickly built a 3-1 lead.
The Dodgers put two runners on in the bottom of the fourth, but Pages popped out to end the inning. Yamamoto then gave up back-to-back singles in the fifth, ending his night early. Anthony Banda came in and stranded the bases loaded to end the inning.
Jack Dreyer pitched a scoreless sixth, and the Dodgers then put runners on first and second with one out. However, Max Muncy grounded into an inning-ending double play as Suarez’s domination continued.
Clayton Kershaw made his 2025 postseason debut in the seventh, getting into immediate trouble with a single and walk against the top of the order. However, with some help from his defense, he put up a scoreless inning.
The Dodgers went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh, as Shohei Ohtani barely missed a solo home run to left field that died at the warning track.
The Dodgers kept Kershaw in the game in the top of the eighth, and the Phillies made them pay. Philadelphia tacked on five runs on home runs by J.T. Realmuto and Schwarber to put the game away.
The Dodgers added one run in the bottom of the ninth on an RBI single from Edman.
When is NLDS Game 4?
The Dodgers and Phillies continue the series on Thursday with first pitch scheduled at 3:08 p.m. PT.
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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5 Responses
So, where to start. First, I appreciate Kershaw and what he’s always meant to this franchise. An almost certain first ballot HoFer, and deservedly so. That said, he has rarely performed well coming out of the bullpen in the playoffs. Everyone remembers the 10th inning collapse by Joe Kelly in the 2019 NLDS game 5. Why were we there? Kershaw came in out of the bullpen in the 8th with a 3-1 lead and promptly gave up back to back HRs to Soto and Rendon. Last night, he dodged a major problem in the 7th inning and somehow gave up no runs. Roberts apparently thought it was a good idea to bring him back out for the 8th inning and we saw that debacle. Still struggling to understand why Dreyer didn’t go more than one inning. More managerial pitching malpractice by Roberts.
And the bats going silent? They actually had their most hits (8) of the series last night. As a team, they are batting .208 with 29 Ks. Ohtani is now 1 for 14 vs Philly with 0 runs, 1 RBI, and 7 Ks. And Pages has completely disappeared. After a regular season where he was second on the team with HRs (27) and 4th in RBIs (86), he’s 1 for 19 in the playoffs without a single RBI and is currently number 1 in the MLB playoffs with 18 teammates LOB.
We need Shohei and Pages to wake up and soon (game 4 tonight) or this thing is going back to Philly and no one in this fan base wants to see that as it would be nearly impossible to beat Philly 3 times there. Anyone still want to talk trash about the Philly big 3 not showing up? That should have been saved for after the series, not during it.
Even though last night’s game became a blow out, I think it was really a lot closer than the score indicates.
The Dodgers really needed to score in the first after Mookie’s triple. Teoscar has got to put the ball in play and score that run. In the sixth with Smith and Kike on base, I would have pinch hit for Muncy. Not sure what Roberts was thinking.
Muncy was 1-8 vs Suarez, lefty on lefty. I think I would have pinch hit Call, had him bunt for a hit or sacrifice. Just a better match up, plus he has some speed. You had Pages and Edmon after that. I would have pulled Kershaw after the 7th and brought in Sheehan or Treinen. I felt bad for Kershaw and Muncy’s error didn’t help. Big Blue has got to buckle down tonight and do anything and everything to win game 4. We can’t afford Roberts to make any more bad decisions. Shohei and Freddy need to show up tonight and stop swinging at pitches out of the zone. They got to Sanchez for 4 runs back in September; maybe they can do it again…
Fair, but you could say the same thing for Philly last night (had second and third with no outs and didn’t score in what, the 6th inning?). They left more players on base last night than LAD did (9 to 8). And they left several RISPs in both of the first two games. Roberts seemed to give up and literally gave the game away last night, after nearly doing the same thing in game 2. Personally, I don’t see Treinen as a viable option last night or again this year in the playoffs, even if we somehow make it past Philly in the NLDS, especially after his 9th inning meltdown in game 2. Dude has to be done in anything close to a high leverage situation. After the 7th inning near miss last night, that LAD fortunately scaped without giving up a run, it’s beyond me why Kershaw came back for that 8th inning debacle AND further, why no one was even warming up in the bullpen. How can that even happen?
We think that Roberts has run out of options and thought Kershaw could save the day as good as he is. No matter what Roberts does there is always a complaint. The team gets these pitchers and then they can’t pitch and what is he to do. Even the Phillies were coming down hard on Schwarber just the day before his big homerun yesterday, felt really bad for him. how the Phillies “fans” were complaining about Schwarber and Harper, when they helped the team get to where they were. It seems these players go through slumps and now is a bad time but as a “fan” I still want to cheer them on and hope they get back into the groove soon. Last year Ohtani did not help that much in the Series either, I think Freddie did.
Run out of options? Well, he could have left Dreyer in for the 7th as he clearly dominated in the 6th. Instead, he brought in Kershaw who somehow managed to avoid giving up a run in the 7th. It was very clear in his first two batters faced he couldn’t find the strike zone. That never changed. He should have come back out for the 8th, but especially after Realmuto cranked the HR to open the inning, Roberts should have pulled him as it was clear he didn’t have it. Even at 4 – 1 after the HR, LA had a chance. Leaving him in for a slow yet methodical 4 more runs made no sense. That was pitching mismanagement and if the team loses this series, it will be because all the momentum changed in the 8th inning last night.
I’m not a Roberts hater, just reality staring us straight in the face. He’s made mistakes or choices that didn’t work out, but he also managed the pitching staff brilliantly last season on their way to winning the World Series. So, credit when and where due, but that means he gets the blame when and where due as well.