Matt Strahm outduels Shohei Ohtani (again), Phillies win clinches the season series against the Dodgers
Six Phillies recorded multiple hits. Edmundo Sosa drove in a team-high three runs, including a ninth-inning solo home run.
LOS ANGELES — Matt Strahm had faced Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani two times before Tuesday night. Both at-bats ended in outs. The Phillies lefty struck out Ohtani on a slider under the zone on July 10, and induced a groundout from the reigning American League MVP on July 11, with the same pitch.
On Tuesday, in the bottom of the seventh, Strahm faced him again. It was a pivotal moment. Cristopher Sánchez had put two runners on to start the inning, and Strahm entered in relief with a 4-1 lead. He’d drawn a lineout and a strikeout, but Ohtani was standing in the way of a clean frame.
Strahm pumped him five four-seam fastballs — and one rare cutter, a pitch he joked that he hadn’t thrown in two years — and finished the at-bat with a slider outside. Ohtani flew out. As Strahm walked off the field, he slapped his hand in his glove.
The show of emotion was typical for him. He said it had more to do with him being a “competitive dude” than anything else. But it did feel like a cathartic moment for a team sorely in need of catharsis.
The Phillies were due for a game like this. Their last few losses have not been blowouts. They have been close games, sometimes coming down to a missed call, or a perfectly positioned outfielder, who happens to be standing right where they’re hitting.
But aside from Strahm’s duel with Ohtani, Tuesday’s 6-2 win over the Dodgers was refreshingly unexciting. Sánchez gave his team a strong outing against a tough lineup, pitching six innings, and allowing just five hits and one run with a walk. He was efficient with his pitches. He didn’t induce much swing and miss — only two strikeouts — but it didn’t matter. The Dodgers hit only two fly balls, to 10 groundouts.
“I thought he was a little bit more behind in the count early in the game,” said manager Rob Thomson. “I thought he was feeling for his secondary pitches and from the third inning on, he got them. It was normal. He touched 95 mph, maybe a little bit more. But the change-up late in the game was really good. And usually that’s what happens, he gets a feel for it after awhile.”
The lineup did a good job of grinding out at-bats against Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, who threw 81 pitches in 4⅔ innings. Kyle Schwarber got them on the board with a line drive RBI single in the fifth to drive Austin Hays in from second base.
» READ MORE: ‘It’s so much bigger than the game:’ Bryce Harper shows support for Freddie Freeman and his son, Max
They piled on against reliever Brent Honeywell in the sixth. J.T. Realmuto drew a one-out walk with Alec Bohm on first base, and Nick Castellanos singled to score Bohm. Brandon Marsh walked two at-bats later, and Edmundo Sosa singled to drive home Castellanos and Realmuto.
Their nine-hole and one-hole hitters tacked on some important insurance runs in the ninth. No. 9 hitter Sosa hit a home run to right field, and leadoff man Schwarber followed him with a home run that hit the right field foul pole. Six of the Phillies’ nine hitters recorded multiple hits. Bohm had a three-hit night.
Schwarber finished his night with two RBIs; Sosa finished with three.
“That was a great at-bat by Sosa,” Schwarber said of his teammate’s home run. “He stays in the at-bat. He had the big hit in the previous at-bat off of [Honeywell], and then he gets that two-strike count, and gets a tough fastball, and is able to keep the barrel above the ball. That was a great swing and a great at-bat.”
After a few tumultuous weeks, the bullpen had a solid night. Jeff Hoffman pitched the eighth, allowing a solo home run to Teoscar Hernández to cut the Phillies’ lead down to 4-2. But he struck out his next two batters and induced a groundout to avoid further damage. Carlos Estévez pitched the ninth. He allowed a one-out double to Andy Pages, but struck out Jason Heyward and induced a pop out from James Outman to end the game.
Thomson knew exactly how to describe it.
“It was a complete win,” said Thomson. “Pitching staff was really good. Everybody in the lineup got on base. Sosa had a big night. We played well, defensively. I know Sosa made the error, but Sánchez made a heck of a play on the swing bunt, and Bohm made a really good play behind the bag early in the game on Hernandez. It was good to see.”
» READ MORE: Phillies prospect updates: Eduardo Tait’s potential, Justin Crawford’s added strength, and more
The Phillies have now won the season series against the Dodgers, which means they will be given the head-to-head tie breaker if they finish the year with the same regular season record as Los Angeles.
Many of the players have said they aren’t focused on the standings. But Strahm is looking at the big picture.
“It would be nice to get a winning streak going,” he said. “I’d feel a lot better about that. But this game is really hard. And I mean, none of it matters if we don’t do what we’ve got to do at the end.”