Preparation met opportunity in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Merrifield led off and hit what looked to be a routine fly ball to center field that the Dodgers’ Andy Pages lost in the twilight and landed 10 feet behind him, gifting Whit a triple. Stone then got Garrett Stubbs and Schwarber to both ground out right at the Dodgers’ infielders, not getting deep enough to give Merrifield the green light to go home. After another infield grounder by Trea Turner, it looked like an opportunity squandered, Dodgers’ shortstop Rojas failed to secure the tailing ball and Turner reached safely, being awarded an RBI single.
After an Alec Bohm double (his major league-leading 31st) ended Stone’s night, Dodgers’ reliever, Anthony Banda, came in for the lefty-lefty matchup against Bryson Stott, who hit he fourth infield dribbler of the inning that died just enough outside of second baseman, Chris Taylor’s range to allow Stott to beat the throw to first and score Turner to give the Phillies the 4-2 lead.
Orion Kerkering came on to relieve Sanchez in the seventh and got into immediate trouble with a leadoff double by Taylor and a one-out single by Barnes to put runners on the corners and Ohtani at the plate. Rob Thomson rightly went to newly minted All-Star lefty, Matt Strahm, to face the most feared hitter on the planet. After four pitches, he sat him down swinging.
With the heart of the Dodgers’ order coming up in the eight inning, led off by lefty, Freddie Freeman, Jose Alvarado came in for the hold. He would allow the Dodgers to get within one with a one-out double by Pages and an RBI single by Rojas, but Merrifield made a good throw to get Rojas stretching for a double for a big second out.
With Ohtani in the hole, Jeff Hoffman came in for the close and took the side out in order to end it.
Phillies go for the sweep tomorrow night as Aaron Nola opposes Dodgers’ rookie, Landon Knack.
After winning the opening game in Atlanta before losing the series to the Braves earlier this week, there was some pressure to show the league that another opening series victory yesterday (their 24th out of 31 on the year, depending on how you count the London stint) was no fluke against a serious World Series competitor in the Los Angeles Dodgers (55-38), the Philadelphia Phillies (60-32) made a statement with a 4-3 win to ensure triumph in the penultimate series before the All Star break in game that had a very playoff preview feel.
Cristopher Sanchez (7-4) bounced back from a rare poor outing in Chicago with six strong innings allowing two of the Dodgers’ three runs.
In his second game back from the injured list, Kyle Schwarber tagged Dodgers’ starter, Gavin Stone, for a leadoff homerun, his 18th of the year and first in over three weeks.
Brandon Marsh hit a one-out double in the bottom of the second and came around to score on a ground out by Whit Merrifield to extend the lead to two.
The Dodgers got a couple singles off Sanchez in the top of the fourth inning which led to a their first run after shortstop and former Marlin, Miguel Rojas, grounded into a fielder’s choice to halve the advantage.
Sanchez would issue a one-out walk to Hernandez on a full count, followed by back-to-back singles by Dodgers’ catcher, Austin Barnes, and Shohei Ohtani to bring the score level.
Trea Turner finished 2-for-4 at the plate, scored one run and drove in another.
Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
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