4 Takeaways From Dodgers' Win Over Phillies to Advance to NLCS

[ad_1] LOS ANGELES – The throw house from Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering sailed to the backstop within the eleventh inning, and the Dodgers superior to the Nationwide League Championship Collection after a wild, tense end Thursday evening.

Listed here are my takeaways:

1. What a end!

With the bases loaded and two outs within the eleventh, the Dodgers' Andy Pages despatched a comebacker again to Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering, who did not deal with it cleanly.

Moderately than throw to first to get Pages, he went house.

"After I noticed him throw to house, I had a sense the sport was over," Pages stated within the aftermath.

The throw sailed wildly over the top of catcher J.T. Realmuto, sending the Dodgers to the NLCS.

2. Pitchers’ duel provides to the stress

Tyler Glasnow and Cristopher Sanchez went toe-to-toe for six innings, with neither starter prepared to relent.

Mixed, the 2 groups had simply three hits till a two-out single from Alec Bohm within the sixth inning. Glasnow began the body by putting out Kyle Schwarber, continued with a groundout from Bryce Harper and completed his sixth scoreless inning with a 97 mph strikeout of Brandon Marsh. The very fact Glasnow was nonetheless within the sport with the guts of the Phillies’ order due up a 3rd time by way of was a testomony to his spotless work as he matched the Cy Younger contender within the reverse dugout.

He wanted to be excellent, contemplating what Sánchez was doing to the Dodgers’ offense, and he was. It was clear Glasnow had his great things from the beginning, when he dialed his four-seamer as much as 98.8 mph to finish the primary inning with a strikeout of Brandon Marsh, eliminating the Phillies’ finest risk of the day towards the Dodgers’ starter.

The Dodgers had comparable alternatives within the third and the sixth towards Sánchez, placing runners on the corners with two outs, however the left-hander labored his approach across the site visitors each occasions. The one run he allowed got here after his departure within the seventh.

(Photograph by Ronald Martinez/Getty Pictures)

3. Slick protection … for a lot of the evening

Runs already figured to be at a premium given the pitching matchup and the afternoon shadows, however other than a Bohm error on a Shohei Ohtani grounder within the third, some terrific protection from each side performed a major function in maintaining the sport scoreless by way of six.

Within the second, Max Kepler’s diving catch robbed successful from Tommy Edman. In an inning that might have gone south for Cristopher Sánchez, the star left-hander wanted simply eight pitches to flee after a pleasant play from Bohm to begin a double play. An inning later, a diving cease from Bryson Stott prevented successful from Kiké Hernández and practically started a double play. In the meantime, Trea Turner recorded out with two good diving stops on the evening.

Within the fourth, Edman slid to his proper at second base to get a power out, and a easy play down the third-base line from Hernández obtained J.T. Realmuto at first. Virtually all evening, the protection was pristine till the ultimate deciding second.

4. Choices backfire after starters depart

Glasnow was nonetheless cruising, sustaining high-90s velocity and solely at 83 pitches when the Dodgers determined his evening was achieved. They turned to Emmet Sheehan, who allowed a leadoff single to J.T. Realmuto earlier than getting a possible double-play ball on a grounder to first baseman Freddie Freeman, however Sheehan whiffed on the throw again to first from Mookie Betts. The ball tipped off Sheehan’s glove and carried into the digicam properly, permitting Kepler to get to second. The error was expensive, as Nick Castellanos adopted with an RBI double to begin the scoring.

It felt like the kind of sport the place one run may determine it. However the lead was short-lived.

(Photograph by Ronald Martinez/Getty Pictures)

Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson had his personal selections to make within the backside of the body, after two of the primary three batters reached towards Sánchez. Within the seventh, Thomson went from his ace to his nearer. Jhoan Duran obtained a groundout from Andy Pages to place two runners in scoring place with two outs when the Phillies determined to deliberately stroll Shohei Ohtani — regardless of a 1-for-17 begin to the sequence on the time — to get to Betts, who labored a full-count bases-loaded stroll to tie the sport.

Durán prevented additional injury, although, getting Teoscar Hernandez to chase at three pitches out of the zone for the strikeout. And the marathon continued.

4 ½. Spotless Sasaki

Rookie Roki Sasaki continued his excellent work since changing into supervisor Dave Roberts’ most-trusted bullpen asset this October. This time, it required greater than ordinary.

Sasaki was as much as the duty, retiring all 9 batters he confronted in three innings of labor to maintain the sport tied at 1 from the eighth to the tenth. He has now allowed only one hit in 5.1 scoreless reduction innings this postseason.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB author for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand coated the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved again to the West Coast in 2014. Observe him on X at @RowanKavner.