Dodgers manager Dave Roberts praises Shohei Ohtani’s two-way performance in NLDS
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts doesn’t have enough words to express Shohei Ohtani’s ability to both pitch and hit in the NLDS.
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LOS ANGELES — The Philadelphia Phillies tried to tell everyone not to panic.
No one believed it.
They kept saying that maybe a change of scenery to Dodger Stadium would be relaxing.
No one believed it.
They claimed a strong trio of All-Star hitters would break out.
No one believed it.
When the Philadelphia Phillies lined the field at Dodger Stadium for handshakes and defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-2 on Wednesday night in front of a sold-out, stunned crowd of 53,689, they suddenly gained a large following.
Of course, the Phillies are still in trouble, trailing the Dodgers 2-1 in the best-of-five National League Division Series, with Game 4 scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 9, at Dodger Stadium.
Yet they are alive.
And they have a dynamic that the Dodgers really wanted to prevent.
Momentum.
Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said before the game, “You don’t always know if momentum is real or not.” “Having said that, as a player in certain situations you can certainly feel the momentum shift.
“Obviously we want to finish this tonight and we don’t want anything to take away from us. It’s one of those things when you talk about momentum, if we don’t finish it tonight it feels like it’s going to slip away. That’s the last thing you want to happen.”
Well, it happened.
“We want to keep them out. We don’t want to let them go for some air,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before the game.
Now, after what happened on Wednesday, the Phillies suddenly feel confident.
The Phillies, who lost their first two games in front of their home crowd at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia and spent the season on life support, believe they can pull this off.
In the end, they became the first team in two weeks to defeat the defending World Series champions, ending the Dodgers’ winning streak at nine.
Ranger Suarez was great, pitching five innings in relief of Aaron Nola in the third inning, but he reminded everyone what the Phillies’ strong trio can do against opponents.
Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner put on a power-hitting clinic for everyone to watch, despite failing 2-of-21 in the game.
Schwarber hit two home runs, including a 455-foot blast in the fourth inning, and had three RBIs.
Turner had three hits and two RBIs, scoring five runs in the Phillies’ eighth to break the game.
There was Harper, who got on base three times with two hits.
The Phillies looked good, just like that…Phillies.
Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered this game with an ERA of 0.66 in his past six starts, was made unable to be rescued from the fifth inning.
It all started when Schwarber, hitless in his past 22 at-bats, came to bat at the top of the fourth inning. With one majestic swing of the bat, his slump ended.
Schwarber sent Yamamoto’s fastball out of bounds, landing 455 feet into the right field pavilion. It was hit so far and so hard (117 mph) that Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernandez didn’t move.
At that exact moment, the Phillies batter woke up.
Harper, who was also handcuffed in this series, followed with a single into the left field seats. Bison Stott singled and as Harper headed to third base, center fielder Andy Pages tried to catch him. Instead, the ball bounced past third baseman Max Muncy and into the Dodgers’ dugout, scoring Harper and allowing Stott to advance to third base. Brandon Marsh made it 3-1 with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Yamamoto appeared in the fifth, but was quickly met with singles by Bryson Stott and Torrie Turner, and was ejected from the game. It was the shortest trip since June 1st.
With the second steal, the Phillies had a great chance to take the lead against left-handed relief pitcher Anthony Banda. Still, Schwarber struck out. Harper hit a shallow pop-up into the right field seats. Then, after Boehm intentionally gave up a walk to load the bases, Brandon Marsh struck out on three pitches. Well, technically there are two lawsuits. Marsh will be charged with an automatic strike for pitch clock violation.
In the seventh inning, three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw appeared in relief, and the Phillies threatened again with Turner’s leadoff single and Schwarber’s walk. But Harper flied out to right, Schwarber went too far and was picked off from first base, and the chance ended with Brandon Marsh’s line drive to right.
Finally, they broke through in the eighth inning with a home run by JT Realmuto, a two-run homer by Turner, and a two-run homer by Schwarber.
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts vividly remembers what it felt like to struggle in the postseason before ending his slump last year, so who knows what will happen now?
“I’ve been there…” Betts said. “When you get stuck in that rut, it’s like quicksand. No matter what you do, you can’t get out of it. It’s hard. Hell, I couldn’t get out of it. So I don’t have any advice or anything. I mean, shoot, if I knew what to do I would do it.”
“I wish them luck. Let’s see if they have an answer.”
For one night, they certainly did.
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The schedule for Wednesday’s game is as follows:
Clayton Kershaw returned in the second inning and allowed a home run to JT Realmuto. He then gave up a walk to Max Kepler, and after Nick Castellanos reached on an error, Bryson Stott bunted to second and third base. With one out, Trea Turner hit a two-RBI single to put the Phillies up 6-1. Kyle Schwarber then hit his second two-run shot of the game, increasing Philadelphia’s lead to 8-1.
Trailing 3-1 in the seventh inning, Dave Roberts brought Clayton Kershaw out of the bullpen for his first appearance in the 2025 postseason. Kershaw faced the Phillies’ best hitters, giving up a walk to Kyle Schwarber and then allowing a leadoff single to Trey Turner. The veteran left-hander allowed Bryce Harper to fly out, then Schwarber got two outs on a baserunning error.
After giving up an intentional walk to Alec Bohm, Kershaw hit a hard line drive to right to retire Brandon Marsh and end the inning without allowing a run.
Kershaw, who will retire at the end of the season, has won three Cy Young Awards, one MVP Award and is a surefire candidate for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Anthony Banda (fifth inning) and Jack Dryer (sixth inning) relieved Yoshinobu Yamamoto and managed to prevent the Phillies from scoring an extra run, even though Philadelphia had the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
Kyle Schwarber’s big home run in the top of the 4th inning took the lead and tied the game. The next batter, Bryce Harper, singled and then scored as a result of Andy Pages’ throwing error on Alec Bohm’s single. The ball went out, Boehm advanced to third base, and Brandon Marsh brought Boehm home on a sacrifice fly for the first out of the inning. JT Realmuto hit a double, but Yamamoto singled out Max Kepler and Nick Castellanos to score and the Phillies took a 3-1 lead.
In the top of the 4th inning, Kyle Schwarber hit a 455-foot home run off Yoshinobu Yamamoto to tie the game.
The Phillies slugger led the National League with 56 home runs during the regular season, but was 0-for-23 at bat.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson stuck to his plan to limit Aaron Nola’s exposure, pulling right-hander Nola after two innings and bringing in southpaw Ranger Suarez.
On Suarez’s first pitch of the night, switch hitter Tommy Edman hit a solo home run into the left field seats, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead heading into the third inning.
Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto held the Phillies hitless through three innings.
In the top of the first inning, with one out, Mookie Betts hit a triple, but Aaron Nola rebounded it and struck out Teoscar Hernandez. The Phillies’ veteran right-hander hit Freddie Freeman with a breaking ball, but struck out Will Smith, who was trying to get through the inning unscathed.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto successfully avoided Bryce Harper’s two-out walk to lead off a scoreless game at Dodger Stadium.
In his second year of a $325 million contract before pitching in the MLB, the Japanese right-hander became the Dodgers’ ace this season, earning All-Star selection and a 2.49 ERA.
- Trea Turner(R) SS
- Kyle Schwarber (L) DH
- Bryce Harper (L) 1B
- Alec Bohm (R) 3B
- Brandon Marsh (left) CF
- JT Realmute(R)C
- Max Kepler (L) LF
- Nick Castellanos (R) RF
- Bryson Stott (L) 2B
- Shohei Oriya (left) D
- Mookie Betts(R) SS
- Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
- Freddie Freeman (left) 1B
- Will Smith(R)C
- Enrique Hernandez (R) LF
- Max Muncy (L) 3B
- Andy Pages(R) CF
- Tommy Edman(S) 2B
The Dodgers’ All-Star catcher made his first start in Game 3 of this postseason and came off the bench for the first two games of the series. Smith had been sidelined for nearly a month with a broken hand.
“His at-bat was great, especially considering the arm he had to face both in that game and in the sack,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said before Game 3.
“If I didn’t feel like he could finish games, I wouldn’t have started him. He feels good. He’s in a good spot. I thought the quality of his at-bats was great.”
