SB Nation • 6 min read

Phillies Town | Dodgers 5, Phillies 3: Philadelphia Does Their Best Twins Impression

Welcome to Phillies Town, Twinkie Town’s Philadelphia Phillies playoff coverage because I like watching Jhoan Duran play baseball and don’t handle change well. Let’s go Phillies!

I thought covering the

Phillies would be fun because they are a good baseball team, have fun players that are easy to root for, and have a recent track record of postseason success. However, I think the Phillies are actually pulling a prank on me because they did their best postseason Twins impression in my first game as a Phillies fan.

The game started well for Philadelphia against two-way superstar and probable GOAT Shohei Ohtani, tagging him for three runs in the second inning. Speedy catcher JT Realmuto ripped a triple to center with two men on to bring in the first two, with Realmuto coming around on an eventual sac fly from former Twin Harrison Bader. Meanwhile, Cy Young conteder Cristopher Sanchez was carving up the Dodgers’ star-studded lineup for the first five innings, allowing only two hits and a walk.

You can only hold off that Dodgers lineup for so long. They finally got to Sanchez in the sixth with a timely two-out rally. After retiring Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez, Freddie Freeman and Tommy Edman both reached in front of repeated Dodgers postseason hero Enrique Hernandez, who drove both runners in with a double in the left field corner. 41-year-old David Robertson got the Phillies out of the inning with them still on top 3-2.

Robertson stayed in to face the first two batters in the seventh inning, but allowed Andy Pages and Muncy to both reach before manager Rob Thomson turned to veteran fireman and Fargo, ND legend Matt Strahm. In a dangerous spot against two of the best hitters alive, Strahm was able to strikeout Ohtani looking and get Betts to pop out. But with one out to go, the other Hernandez, Teoscar, did the rest of the damage, driving a three-run shot out to right center to put Los Angeles up 5-3.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, they did their best 2025 Twins impression with the lineup providing absolutely nothing after their big third inning. Ohtani retired 15 of the final 17 Phillies batters he faced and gave way to a deeply flawed Los Angeles bullpen. Unfortunately, the Dodgers’ wealth of starters mean that former All-Star Tyler Glasnow was the first man out of the ‘pen. He pitched well in the seventh, but ran into trouble in the eighth when he walked the bases full with two outs. Fireman Alex Vesia came in to get pinch hitter Edmundo Sosa and put an end to the Phillies’ threat.

A couple of ex-Twins paired to give the Phillies a last breath of hope in the ninth. After an excellent top half pitching from Jhoan Duran, where his only flaw was a walk to Ohtani who they were clearly trying to pitch around, Max Kepler hit a soft double to right field with one out to bring up the tying run. However, it only took former top prospect Roki Sasaki three more pitches to get Nick Castellanos and Bryson Stott to hit into the final two outs.

Final: Dodgers 5, Phillies 3

FORMER TWINS WATCH