The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3, on Monday to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the National League Division Series.
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Blake Snell pitched six shutout innings while the Dodgers offense erupted for a four-run seventh to move Los Angeles one game away from taking the NLDS against the higher-seeded Phillies. Games 3 and 4 (if necessary) will be at Dodger Stadium.
NLDS Game 2 Recap
The Dodgers and Phillies engaged in a pitchers’ duel on Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Blake Snell and Jesus Luzardo were trading scoreless innings, as the teams combined for just two hits through the first six innings.
Snell got into some trouble in the bottom of the sixth, as he walked two batters to give the Phillies two on and one out. However, he struck out Bryce Harper and got Alec Bohm to ground out, putting the finishing touches on six dominant innings.
Miguel Rojas made things close on the groundout, electing to tag third base instead of throwing to first.
He appeared to injure himself on the play, and was pinch-hit for in his next at-bat. However, he likely would have been pinch-hit for anyway with a right-handed reliever on the mound and the Dodgers’ silver bullet in Max Muncy ready to be deployed.
Luzardo shut down the Dodgers for six innings, but ran into trouble in the top of the seventh.
Teoscar Hernandez — who has had one big hit after another in his Dodgers postseason career — hit a leadoff single. Then, Freddie Freeman doubled, and LA suddenly had two runners in scoring position with no outs.
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The Phillies brought in right-handed reliever Orion Kerkering, and he got Tommy Edman to strike out. Then, Kiké Hernandez broke his bat on an infield dribbler, and Teoscar Hernandez sprinted home and just beat the tag to give LA the first run of the game.
Muncy then pinch hit and drew a walk, bringing up Andy Pages, who popped out. With the bases loaded and two outs, Will Smith — who started the game on the bench again — broke the game open with a two-run single, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 3-0.
The very next batter, Shohei Ohtani, tacked on with an RBI single of his own, and the boo birds were out at Citizens Bank Park with LA leading 4-0.
Emmet Sheehan relieved Snell in the seventh, and bounced back after his rough Wild Card outing with a 1-2-3 inning. He came back out for the eighth, and got into trouble, giving up a triple and RBI single to make it 4-1.
However, Sheehan remained in the game to face Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, and he retired both, sending LA to the ninth with a 4-1 lead.
The Dodgers had two on in the top of the ninth but stranded them on a Shohei Ohtani strikeout. Then, Blake Treinen pitched the bottom of the ninth and got into immediate trouble.
Three straight hits from the Phillies brought the lead down to one and the Dodgers went to Alex Vesia to try to save the game.
The Phillies tried to bunt the runner over to third base, and Max Muncy fielded it and threw it to Mookie Betts at third base to get the lead runner in an incredible play.
Then, the Phillies got another hit, before a ground ball out set up runners at the corners with two outs. Dave Roberts went to the bullpen again, bringing in Roki Sasaki to get the final out.
Sasaki did just that, getting Turner to ground out to give the Dodgers a 2-0 NLDS lead.
Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
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4 Responses
Dodgers continue to win despite Roberts. Dude is extremely overrated.
Dave Roberts and the Dodgers were VERRRRRY LUCKY last nite. Treinen was outstanding LAST Year. But this Year, he has LOST his MOJO, and his ERA is very HIGH. He is not the Man to go to,— in High Leverage Situations. Roberts’ choice in using him last nite, showed VERRRRY POOR JUDGEMENT, and nearly cost the Dodgers the Game. Dave needs to re-think his Managerial CHOICES. It is time to keep TREINEN out of the Games in this Series, and future Series. He can NOT be counted on to close out OPPOSING Hitters. Dave has to CONSIDER Treinen’s Current Statistics — which are VERRRRRRRY BAD!!! Loyalty to his Players is a good thing But, NOT RECOGNIZING Treinen’s Current INABILITIES,— is POTENTIALLY Disastrous.
We all love what Treinen meant to this team in securing the WS championship last year. For whatever reason, he doesn’t have it this year and Roberts needs to stop putting either him or Tanner Scott in high leverage situations. Up by three runs against the Phillies’ (or any) offense is high leverage and without that saving catch by Freeman of Edman’s horrific throw, we’re likely even at a game each. Now is NOT the time for the Treinen or Scott experiment as it could be the end of your season. Combined, their blown saves were the reason this team was not the #1 overall seed. You want to goof around in the regular season, frustrating but okay, I guess. Low leverage only for either of these guys the rest of the way. Up or down by 5 or 6 runs late in the game to save the arms that can actually contribute this post season. I appreciate Roberts trying to psych these guys up and bolster their confidence, but the time for that ended on September 28th. Enough of the insanity Roberts!!
Very well said, Mike. The only counter-argument I’ll make is the Dodgers can’t really win a World Series if they only have 1-2 relievers they trust. So I think a 3-run lead is about as low-leverage, high-leverage as you’re going to get. Of course a loss there would have made this series completely different but the Dodgers did escape and now Roberts knows Treinen isn’t able to be trusted again.