NLDS Game 3: Phillies beat Dodgers to force Game 4; stars show up and Suárez strong in relief of Nola

Rob Thomson saved his job. At least, for a day.

He put his job on the line in a must-win game Wednesday by starting Aaron Nola, who’d just finished an awful season, instead of Ranger Suárez, who’d shone in a contract year.

Thomson said he did it because he wanted one of them to pitch out of the bullpen, and since Nola had never done so, that’s where Suárez began the game.

After two forgettable games to open the NLDS, Kyle Schwarber ignited the offense with a 455-foot home run in the fourth, and another as part of a five-run eighth.

He provided the biggest swing in an 8-2 trouncing of the Dodgers.

With the Phillies trailing by one run after three innings and Dodger Stadium rocking, Schwarber teed off on a 96-mph fastball from Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Schwarber dropped his bat. Yamamoto let out a scream.

Jhoan Duran was warming in the bullpen before the eighth inning. With the Phillies holding onto a two-run lead, it appeared that Rob Thomson was going to ask his closer for his first six-out save since arriving in Philadelphia to keep the season alive another day.

But that was before the Phillies broke the game open.

With Clayton Kershaw back out for the top of the eighth, J.T. Realmuto smacked a solo homer to left field to open the rally. Max Kepler worked a walk and Nick Castellanos reached on a fielding error from Max Muncy to keep the line moving.

For three innings, it seemed like Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto was in full control.

The righty didn’t allow an earned run for 6⅔ innings against the Reds in his wild-card start, and he held the Phillies hitless through the first three innings on Wednesday.

But then came Kyle Schwarber’s 455-foot blast that carried all the way out of Dodger Stadium to lead off the fourth inning. His first homer of the postseason seemed to release the rest of the Phillies offense, and they went on to score three runs in the frame.

Rob Thomson's decision to start Aaron Nola in Game 3 of the National League Division Series was met with raised eyebrows across the Delaware Valley.

Now, Thomson will have to explain why he took Nola out so soon.

All along, though, the Phillies planned to bring Ranger Suárez into the game behind Nola. Thomson said before the game that he wanted to bring Suárez in for a clean inning. With Shohei Ohtani due to bat second in the third inning, Thomson apparently decided it was time for Suárez.

Displaced former ace Aaron Nola just dropped the hammer on Will Smith, a 3-2 knuckle-curve that stranded two runners.

Reliever Tanner Banks was throwing in the bullpen in the bottom of the first.

Nola faced five batters. He gave up a liner that Brandon Marsh misplayed into a triple and hit Freddie Freeman, but dispatched Shohei Ohtani with a soft liner to left, fanned Teoscar Hernandez with a knuckle-curve, and, with the stakes incredibly high (for a first inning), he froze Smith to escape.

In the last two postseasons, the Diamondbacks and Mets succeeded in shutting down the Phillies by getting them to swing at pitches out of the strike zone.

The Dodgers have taken a different approach.

In Game 1, Shohei Ohtani attacked the strike zone with 60 of his 89 pitches in six innings. Blake Snell, known for getting hitters to chase pitches, went right after the Phillies in Game 2.

The focus has been on the lack of production from the Phillies’ marquee names, but the Dodgers haven’t received what they expected from theirs either.

Through two games, Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is just 1-9 at the plate with one walk and six strikeouts.

That could change in Game 3.

As far as Jimmy Rollins is concerned, there's a simple reason why the Phillies find themselves down 2-0 to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

"They're not hitting," the former Phillies star and current TBS analyst said on The Dan Patrick Show Wednesday. "They're guys that relied literally on the big swing, and they can't play a different style of baseball."

As columnist Marcus Hayes pointed out, the Phillies Big Five bombers — Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, J.T. Realmuto, and Nick Castellanos — are hitting just .171 with zero home runs and 13 strikeouts in the first two games of the NLDS

My first reaction last week after watching the Dodgers dismantle the Reds in Game 1 of their wild-card series was that they were going to sweep the Phillies. They were too good and too powerful. So I’m not surprised that the Dodgers have a 2-0 lead. But I am stunned at how it unfolded: two losses at home that should have been wins. And I still can’t believe they bunted.

The Dodgers opened the door for the Phils by not using Roki Sasaki to start the ninth on Monday as Dave Roberts said afterward that he wanted to avoid using the starter-turned-closer twice in three days. That was the time for the Phillies to kick the door open and they nearly did. But then they tried to play for a tie at home in the ninth inning against the defending champions. That’s when they lost the game.

Just like the calculus had to change in Game 1 when they scored three runs vs. Shohei Ohtani, the calculus had to change in Game 2 when the Dodgers tried to complete a save with their troubled bullpen instead of Sasaki. He wasn’t even warming up as he watched the game in the bullpen with his jacket on. The Phils’ best chance to win the game was in that inning. It’s October. Go for it. Win the game.

The Phillies will be wearing powder blue uniforms on Wednesday and Thursday, if they force a Game 4.

They were formerly their primary road uniforms from 1972 to 1988. The team began wearing them at home on Thursdays as a throwback, starting in the 2018 season.

“We talked about it 10 days ago,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Some of the players came to me, because they like playing in them. So we had to go through a bunch of hoops with Major League Baseball just to get it cleared.”

If the Phillies somehow turn this around, it will be fitting that Aaron Nola — their longest-tenured player who had a disappointing season — is the one who salvages it.

The Phillies will turn to Nola on Wednesday night. Rob Thomson told him after Game 2’s crushing loss that he’ll start the elimination game at Dodger Stadium.

Nola finished the worst season of his career (6.01 ERA in 17 starts and 12 weeks on the injured list) with a terrific start in the final weekend of the regular season. He’ll have a chance in October to keep that going.

The Phillies have painted themselves into a corner.

The Dodgers lead the best-of-five NLDS 2-0, meaning the Phillies would have to win three straight — including two games in Los Angeles — to keep their season alive and advance in the playoffs.

The good news is there are a few MLB teams that were down 0-2 in best-of-five series that went on to win. The bad news is it hasn't happened often.

Taking the mound looking to end the Phillies' season will be Dodgers righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8, 2.49 ERA).

In five starts, Yamamoto has a career postseason ERA of just 2.84, with 24 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings. He struck out nine in Game 2 of the Dodgers' wild card victory over the Cincinnati Reds, where he didn't allow an earned run over 6 2/3 innings.

Yamamoto held the Phillies to just three hits and no earned runs over six innings way back on April 4, but was out-pitched by Jesús Luzardo in the Dodgers' loss.

It will be a late night for Phillies fans hoping for a Game 4 against the Dodgers to keep the series alive.

Game 3 of the National League Divisional Series between the Phillies and Dodgers begins Wednesday night on TBS, with first pitch scheduled for 9:08 p.m. Philly time.

Calling all the action from Citizens Bank Park is veteran TBS announcer Brian Anderson and Jeff Francoeur, who spent most of his career with the Atlanta Braves but played for the Phillies during the 2015 season.