A day after a pair of baserunning blunders sealed the Phillies’ 2-1 loss to the Dodgers, they committed another perplexing series of mistakes on Wednesday.
Bryan De La Cruz had just blasted a game-tying home run in the fifth inning for his first hit in a Phillies uniform, and Bryson Stott kept the pressure on Dodgers lefty Eric Lauer with a double to center field.
First, Rafael Marchán failed to advance Stott when he popped up a bunt attempt. And when Trea Turner’s 13-pitch at-bat ended with a soft grounder to third, Stott ran right into the tag from Max Muncy.
If he’d remained at second, there would have been a runner in scoring position for MLB home run leader Kyle Schwarber, who was due up next and popped out to end the frame. When Muncy hit a two-run shot off Aaron Nola the next inning that put the Dodgers ahead for the 9-5 win, the what if loomed even larger.
Another bullpen meltdown ultimately broke the game open, but the lapses that contributed to both the Phillies’ losses to the Dodgers this week are a growing concern for a team with postseason aspirations.
It was a back-and-forth game early, and the Phillies struck first with a two-run homer from Alec Bohm.
Dalton Rushing, the Dodgers’ catcher and nine-hole hitter, drove in three runs. He homered off Nola’s four-seam in the third inning and punched a two-RBI double to right field in the fifth.
Nola shut down Shohei Ohtani, who was aggressive in his approach. In his first two plate appearances, Ohtani tried to pounce on Nola’s first pitch, but lined out and grounded out. The third time he came up — following Rushing’s fifth-inning double — the Phillies intentionally walked the two-way Dodgers star.
The risk to put two runners on paid off when Andy Pages grounded into an inning-ending double play.
After Muncy’s homer put the Dodgers back in front in the sixth, Nola rebounded by striking out Mookie Betts, but his night ended there. Seth Johnson took over and secured the final two outs of the inning by striking out Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández swinging.
The Dodgers ran up the score against the bullpen with four runs the eighth inning. Tim Mayza left two inherited runners for Orion Kerkering, who then walked Betts on four pitches to load the bases.
A sacrifice fly scored one, and Kerkering’s command wavered again as he walked Hernández. Tommy Edman made him pay, lacing a bases-clearing triple to deep center field that gave the Dodgers a six-run cushion.
Alex McFarlane made his major league debut in the ninth. His first assignment was Ohtani, who flew out on the first pitch. McFarlane outing was briefly interrupted after Marchán left the game with trainers, but once J.T. Realmuto took over, McFarlane rebounded by inducing groundouts from Pages and Muncy.
The Phillies chipped away with RBI singles from Bohm in the eighth and Realmuto in the ninth, but Turner struck out on three pitches to seal the series loss.
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