Phillies lose to Dodgers as Jake Arrieta gets overpowered by lefty-heavy lineup
The Dodgers loaded their lineup with left-handed hitters Friday night and they powered their way to a 6-2 victory over the Phillies at Dodger Stadium.
LOS ANGELES – Gabe Kapler looked at the opposing lineup Friday afternoon and saw something he had not seen before this season. From one through six, the Los Angeles Dodgers would be sending left-handed hitters to the plate.
“And really good left-handed hitters, too,” the Phillies manager said. “It’s a pretty sizable challenge, especially given the fact that we don’t have Adam Morgan. But nobody is going to feel sorry for us and it’s our job to figure out ways to beat those left-handed hitters.”
It ended up being a back-to-the-drawing board evening for the manager and his team as the Dodgers’ left-handed hitters mashed their way to a 6-3 victory over the Phillies at beautiful Dodger Stadium.
One look at vetean righthander Jake Arrieta’s splits against left-handed hitters this season and you could see the potential for disaster in the series opener. Right-handed hitters were batting just .230 with a .289 on-base percentage and .598 OPS against Arrieta. Lefties, on the other hand, were hitting .283 with a .374 on-base percentage and an .865 OPS. Six of the nine home runs Arrieta had allowed and 15 of his 26 walks were against left-handed batters.
The opposing batting average rose to .306 and the home run total jumped to nine as the Dodgers’ lefties unloaded on Arrieta, pushing Los Angeles’ league-best record to 39-19. The Phillies, who entered the series with the second best record in the league, slipped to 33-24, but remained three games ahead of Atlanta in the National League East.
“I think Jake missed with a couple of sliders and these are really good hitters and he got punished for those mistakes,” Kapler said. "
Arrieta surrendered a two-run home run to Max Muncy during a 28-pitch third inning, but the Phillies managed to erase that deficit with a solo home run from Andrew McCutchen in the fourth and a clutch two-out RBI single by Arrieta in the top of the fifth.
That would be the final highlight for Arrieta as the Dodgers unleashed the full force of their loaded left-handed lineup in the bottom of the fifth. Joc Pederson homered to right field to open the inning and Corey Seager followed a single by Muncy with a two-run homer to right field.
The Phillies were down 5-2 and, despite good work from the bullpen, they did not have a second rally in them against Kenta Maeda and the Los Angeles bullpen. Arrieta departed after five innings having allowed 10 hits. The Dodgers’ lefties went 8-for-18 against him and the veteran righthander’s ERA rose from 3.60 to 3.96.
“The offspeed wasn’t very sharp tonight,” Arrieta said. “That’s why I gave up 10 hits -- seven singles and three home runs. I wasn’t very sharp with the slider, changeup or the curveball. They were able to eliminate too many pitches and they did some damage.”
Los Angeles added a run in the eighth on a homer by Kike Hernandez and the Phillies got a run back in the ninth on an RBI single from Scott Kingery, but all that did was set up a one-out save for Dodgers closer Kanley Jansen.
As well as the Phillies have played through the first third of the season, it’s impossible to consider any team other than the Dodgers the best in the National League right now. Not only do they have the best record, the highest run differential, the highest batting average and the lowest earned run average in the league, they also have the distinction of winning the last two National League pennants.
The only thing missing from the resume is a World Series title, something the Dodgers have not won since the 1988 Kirk Gibson series against Oakland.
Still, Kapler was not willing to concede anything to the Dodgers before the game.
“I think they are one of the best teams in the league and I think we’re one of the best teams in the National League as well,” Kapler said. “I think a series against the Dodgers can tell us a quite a bit about our team. But I thought, and this is important, that our series against the Brewers showed us a lot about our team. And the series against the Cubs showed us a lot about our team. And our first series against the Cardinals showed us a lot about our team.”
All of that is true, but the Dodgers are the clear class of the National League right now and Friday night Jake Arrieta was no match for their loaded left-handed lineup.