With too many back-and-forths to count, the Phillies managed to connect the last punch, winning it in extras, 6-5. In doing so, Philadelphia secured the NL East title and put a big dent in Los Angeles’ rather small chance of potentially running down that number two seed and the incredibly valuable bye it secures.
It’s not often that the Dodgers welcome any opponent who can roll out a hitter matching Shohei Ohtani’s power threat, but the Philadelphia Phillies are capable of just that with Kyle Schwarber
in 2025. So big is the danger from facing Schwarber and also fellow lefty-hitter Bryce Harper at the top of the Phillies order that Dave Roberts worked up a specific plan for tonight’s game. In shades of postseason baseball, Roberts had Anthony Banda open the game for the specific purpose of facing those lefties before Emmet Sheehan made his regular scheduled appearance, but as a follower.
Ultimately, said plan only proved that very little would have been able to slow down the lefty mashers from Philly. Both Harper and Schwarber went deep in the game off southpaws, Schwarber in the first and Harper in the eighth.
What made this pitching decision from Dave Roberts particularly odd is that almost nothing from Sheehan’s recent performance led you to be overly cautious about his matchups against dangerous hitters. Harper and Schwarber are daunting, but they’re a problem against anyone, and Sheehan had been dealing as of late. Furthermore, not starting a game only twice this season, Sheehan could hardly be referred to as someone who is all that used to this approach.
Unfazed by Banda’s presence on the mound, Schwarber took the left-hander deep in the top of the first. It was Schwarber’s third home run in as many games, and it put him at 53 on the year, one below major-league leader Cal Raleigh. Although the Dodgers’ pitching strategy didn’t work out, it also didn’t not work out. Much like Schwarber, Sheehan was unfazed by the disruption in his routine. The Dodgers’ current youngest starting pitcher came on in the middle of the first and absolutely dominated the Phillies, not allowing a hit until his final pitch of the game, when Otto Kemp got him for a ground-rule double to open the seventh. By that time, Los Angeles held a 3-1 lead courtesy of a Max Muncy homer and a pair of Mookie Betts’ sac flies. That hit, though, opened the floodgates as Jack Dreyer struggled against the bottom of the Phillies’ order, allowing three runs to come across, capped by a Weston Wilson two-run bomb, giving Philadelphia a 4-3 advantage.
One of the big issues in dealing with the likes of Schwarber and Harper is that even if you make the right decisions, with the best pitchers throwing the correct pitches, you’re still susceptible to getting burned. That’s how talented they are, and shortly after Mookie Betts tied the game with a solo shot in the seventh, it was Harper’s turn to show out against a talented Dodger left-handed reliever.
Alex Vesia came on with the plan of attacking Harper with high heaters. He executed that quite well, and still, Harper went out of the zone to crush one of those four-seamers over the right-field wall, once again putting the Phills back in front.
Much like Banda’s 1-2 slider in the first hadn’t been a bad pitch by any means and had Schwarber reaching out for it, this was yet another case of good pitch, better swing. Room for improvement is ever-present, but there was little to complain about from the job Banda and Vesia did against these two outstanding hitters. If anything, Los Angeles should lament the seventh-inning blowup against a part of the Phillies order it should handle swiftly, regardless of who is on the mound.
By the time the ninth inning rolled around, the Dodgers needed to score against Jhoan Duran with their bottom of the order up. Andy Pages managed what no one else had since Duran got traded to Philadelphia, which is to homer against the flame-throwing closer. An outstanding hitter at home, Pages added to the folklore of his skills at Dodger Stadium with yet another signature moment.
Shohei Ohtani got nothing in the zone a couple of batters later, walked, stole second, and set up the game-winning opportunity for Betts, who, unlike in many of his previous at-bats in this game, this time couldn’t come through. Missed opportunities ended up marking the final innings for Los Angeles. In the tenth, Blake Treinen did a fine enough job to hold the Phillies to one run, and when the Dodgers loaded the bases with just one out, the park was very lively, but a Miguel Rojas pop-fly and an easy groundout from Muncy meant defeat for Los Angeles.
Monday particulars
Home runs: Max Muncy (18), Mookie Betts (19), Andy Pages (25), Kyle Schwarber (53), Weston Wilson (5), Bryce Harper (27)
WP — Jhoan Duran (7-6): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
LP — Blake Treinen (1-5); 1 IP, 1 run (unearned), 1 walk
SV – David Robertson (1): 1 IP, 2 walks
Up next
Same start time for the Dodgers and Phillies on Tuesday, with Shohei Ohtani and Cristopher Sánchez squaring off on the mound and both teams trying to navigate tired bullpens after an eventful Monday game.
