PHILADELPHIA — Give him the title. Roki Sasaki turned into a closer Monday night.
A scoreless pitchers’ duel between Blake Snell and Jesus Luzardo turned into a battle between the weakest links on two powerhouse teams when the Dodgers chased Luzardo from the game in the seventh inning and scored four times against the relievers who followed.
But the Dodgers’ bullpen said, ‘Hold my beer’ and nearly coughed up the lead. Sasaki came in and got Trea Turner to ground out with the tying run in scoring position to close out a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of their National League Division Series, sending the Dodgers back home needing just one more win to advance.
Ninety previous teams have gone up 2-0 in a best-of-five series (either in the NLDS or the old Championship Series format). Only 10 of them failed to advance. The Dodgers will send Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night with a chance to close it out in Game 3.
Snell and Luzardo were brilliant through six scoreless innings, allowing just one hit each. Each had a brief moment of vulnerability before settling in.
Luzardo struck out Shohei Ohtani to start the game – Ohtani’s fifth strikeout in his first six trips to the plate to start this series, the fourth in a row on a called third strike.
Mookie Betts followed with a single and Teoscar Hernandez drew a walk to put two runners on. Betts made it runners at the corners when he tagged up on Freddie Freeman’s fly out but Tommy Edman grounded out to end the inning.
That started a stretch of 17 consecutive Dodgers retired by Luzardo through the sixth inning.
Snell walked Bryce Harper with two outs in the first inning and Brandon Marsh to start the third. But the Phillies could hardly touch him. They took 18 swings in the first three innings and made contact just five times. They swung 11 times at Snell’s slider, curveball and changeup and missed all 11 times.
Snell didn’t give up a hit until there were two outs in the fifth inning. That’s when Edmundo Sosa dropped a broken-bat flare onto the grass in center field for a single.
Snell’s biggest challenge was self-created. He walked Trea Turner with one out in the sixth then, after Turner stole second, walked Kyle Schwarber on five pitches to put two on for Bryce Harper. .He struck out Harper with a slider then got Alec Bohm to bounce out.
That drove Snell’s pitch count to 99 and ended his night. The Dodgers’ offense took a more direct route with Luzardo.
Teoscar Hernandez led off the seventh inning with a single then went to third on Freddie Freeman’s double to right.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson’s first call to the bullpen was for Orion Kerkering. He struck out Tommy Edman and broke Kiké Hernandez’s bat with an 0-and-1 sinker in on his hands. That produced a weak grounder to shortstop.
With the infield in, Trea Turner threw home but Teoscar Hernandez just beat the throw for the first run of the game (a call confirmed by a replay review). Pinch-hitter Max Muncy drew a walk to load the bases with one out.
After Andy Pages popped out, Will Smith stroked the first pitch he saw from Kerkering into left field. Two runs scored and another scored when Thomson brought in left-hander Matt Strahm to face Ohtani. Ohtani singled to right field to drive in Muncy.
The Dodgers’ search for a solution to their unreliable bullpen led them to another dislocated starter. Emmet Sheehan followed Snell with a scoreless seventh but he ran into trouble in the eighth when he gave up a triple to Max Kepler and an RBI single to Turner.
Schwarber and Harper followed and the Dodgers are carrying five lefties in the bullpen (Alex Vesia, Jack Dreyer, Tanner Scott, Anthony Banda and Clayton Kershaw). Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t call for any of them. Sheehan struck out Schwarber and got Harper on a harmless fly ball.
Those two dangerous hitters have gone 1 for 15 with eight strikeouts in the first two games of this NLDS.
In the ninth, though, Blake Treinen couldn’t retire a batter. He gave up a leadoff single to Bohm, a double to JT Realmuto and a two-run double to Nick Castellanos that made it a one-run game.
Alex Vesia came in and got one out on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt and another on a force out, but he left with runners on first and third.
Sasaki got the final out when he induced Trea Turner into ball to second baseman Tommy Edman, with first baseman Freddie Freeman going to his knees to field Edman’s one-hop throw behind the bag.
More to come on this story.
Originally Published:
