Phillies’ lineup goes cold against Dodgers’ Blake Snell; magic number to clinch bye still 4
The Phillies couldn't get anything going against the Dodgers' bullpen this time, but took two of three games in Los Angeles.
LOS ANGELES — Each time a Dodgers pitcher records a strikeout, the team’s organist, Dieter Ruehle, traditionally plays the opening notes of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.
Blake Snell kept Ruehle quite busy on Wednesday night, as he carved through the Phillies lineup with a season-high 12 strikeouts. Snell became the third straight Dodgers starter — including Emmet Sheehan, who followed opener Anthony Banda on Monday — to befuddle the Phillies this series.
But unlike in the first two games, the Phillies couldn’t get anything going against the Dodgers’ bullpen. They dropped the series finale, 5-0, and their magic number for a first-round bye stays at four.
“That’s the best I’ve seen Snell,” said manager Rob Thomson. “He was really good. He threw strikes and pounded the zone, and the curveball was really good to our lefthanders, and change-up was really good to our right-handers. So we couldn’t muster too much against him.”
All four pitches in Snell’s arsenal — four-seam, curveball, change-up, slider — were working well. Phillies hitters whiffed a total of 24 times.
Snell allowed just two hits — singles from Bryson Stott and Harrison Bader in the third — and immediately ended the threat by striking out Kyle Schwarber looking. The Phillies did not have another baserunner until the seventh, when Nick Castellanos and Max Kepler drew back-to-back walks.
With two aboard and Snell’s pitch count up to 107, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts started toward the mound. Alex Vesia, who had been warming up in the bullpen in the left field corner, began to cross the outfield. But Snell convinced Roberts to leave him in to face Otto Kemp, and Vesia turned back around.
Snell blew a 95.3 mph fastball by Kemp for his 12th and final strikeout.
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Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo allowed four runs. The Dodgers got on the board in the second with a leadoff home run from Freddie Freeman to straightaway center. Three singles scored another run, but Luzardo induced a lineout from Shohei Ohtani to end the inning and strand a pair.
In the fourth inning, the Dodgers capitalized on a series of miscues to add on. Andy Pages walked, stole second base, and advanced to third when a pickoff attempt from Luzardo wound up in center field. A Kiké Hernández single brought Pages home.
Luzardo retired the next seven hitters to finish seven innings.
“Found different ways of getting guys out, even though maybe the sweeper wasn’t as sharp as it has been and fastball command wasn’t really there,” Luzardo said.
With his pitch count at 100, Luzardo came back out to start the eighth inning for the lefty-on-lefty matchup against Ohtani, who was 0-for-3 against him. But it backfired when Ohtani took a sweeper 408 feet to center field for his 51st homer of the year.
“I felt like I didn’t have my best stuff, but felt like we grinded through, made it solid enough, and kept us in the game,” Luzardo said. “And then go back out there and just leave a mistake with two strikes; I definitely wish I could get that one back.”
Orion Kerkering walked Teoscar Hernández on four straight down-and-away pitches. Hernández advanced to third on a Freeman single, and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
Bryce Harper drew a walk in the ninth against Dodgers closer Tanner Scott. A single from Castellanos, the Phillies’ third and final hit, put runners on the corners, but Kepler popped out to end the game.
It’s possible the Phillies will meet the reigning World Series champions, and Snell himself, again in October. And while they left Los Angeles on a sour note, the series as a whole marked their fifth straight series win against the Dodgers.
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“They’re obviously a really good team, but I think we have an amazing team as well,” Luzardo said. “And I think this series goes to show that we can slug it out with anyone. And same with the pitching, I think we can keep up with them as well. So two good teams; I think we match up well.”
After packing their bags for their final regular-season road series in Phoenix, the Phillies will have a day off Thursday. Over a stretch of 15 straight days, they went 11-4.
“I think the day off is coming at the right time,” Thomson said. “And we’ll strap it on on Friday.”