4 Takeaways From the Phillies' NLDS Sport 3 Win Over the Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — By the ninth inning, a lot of Dodger Stadium had already cleared out.

With an opportunity to place the Phillies away within the Nationwide League Division Collection, the Dodgers’ offense provided little resistance to Ranger Suárez’s assault whereas their pitchers might now not preserve the Phillies’ high sluggers at bay as Philadelphia staved off elimination in Sport 3.

Listed below are my takeaways:

1. Phillies sluggers wake from their slumber

The ball sailed by the Los Angeles night time sky and clanked off the highest of the roof within the Dodgers’ right-field pavilion within the fourth inning. And with that, the primary Schwarbomb of the postseason signaled the arrival of the Phillies’ sluggers.

Earlier than Kyle Schwarber’s 455-foot blast to place the Phillies on the board Wednesday night time, Philadelphia’s vaunted trio of Trea Turner, Schwarber and Bryce Harper had began the Nationwide League Division Collection a mixed 2-for-24 with 5 walks and 11 strikeouts.

However that majestic drive — the primary dwelling run Yoshinobu Yamamoto had allowed since Jackson Holliday broke up his no-hitter with two outs within the ninth inning on Sept. 6, and the primary dwelling run the Dodgers had allowed all postseason — tied the rating and appeared to kick the Philadelphia offense into gear. Harper adopted with a single, Alec Bohm singled, Brandon Marsh hit a sac fly, and identical to {that a} 1-0 deficit was a 3-1 lead for the Phillies, because the night time snowballed rapidly on the Dodgers and starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Schwarber, Harper and Turner every reached base thrice, going a mixed 7-for-13 with 5 RBIs, with Schwarber launching two dwelling runs on the night time.

2. For the primary time this October, a Dodgers starter was not sharp

From the second their rotation grew to become entire once more in early August, the Dodgers’ rotation was the very best in baseball. That success had translated to the beginning of October. Dodgers starters had tallied a 1.75 ERA by their first 4 video games of the postseason, delivering high quality begins in every of these 4 video games.

That streak ended Wednesday, regardless of having their finest pitcher this season — and top-of-the-line pitchers within the Nationwide League this yr — on the mound.

(Photograph by Katelyn Mulcahy/MLB Photographs through Getty Pictures)

Yamamoto’s 4 innings have been his fewest in a begin since July 7, which was 14 begins in the past. He elicited simply eight swings and misses, tied for his fifth-fewest in a recreation this season. The best-hander cruised by three scoreless innings earlier than catastrophe struck. He left too many pitches in the course of the zone, and the Phillies didn’t miss.

Beginning within the fourth inning, the Phillies went homer, single, single, sac fly, double, flyout, strikeout, single, single to finish Yamamoto’s night time with two on and no out within the fifth. The Dodgers escaped, however catastrophe loomed.

3. Catastrophe for Kershaw in first reduction outing of the 2025 postseason

A well-known face emerged from the house bullpen within the high of the seventh inning, bringing a crowd of 53,689 followers to their ft, together with Sandy Koufax, who 5 years from now may have extra Dodgers firm within the Corridor of Fame.

Clayton Kershaw made his first look of the ultimate postseason of his profession within the seventh inning. Within the inauspicious body, he allowed two walks and didn’t generate any swings and misses. The inning ended with a lineout 108 mph off Brandon Marsh’s bat, however Kershaw escaped unscathed.

… At the least for that inning.

(Photograph by Harry How/Getty Pictures)

Regardless of struggling by the scoreless inning, Roberts despatched Kershaw again out for the eighth, and J.T. Realmuto promptly added an insurance coverage run on a solo homer to present the Phillies a 4-1 lead. Inside moments, that lead doubled after a two-run single from Turner and Schwarber’s second homer of the night time.

It was Kershaw’s first look since Sept. 28, when he threw 5.1 scoreless innings in Seattle within the remaining common season begin of his Corridor of Fame profession. It was his first reduction outing within the postseason since 2019, when he allowed two dwelling runs in Sport 5 of the NLDS. He allowed 5 runs, 4 earned, on six hits and three walks in two innings of labor.

4. Thomson’s pitching plan goes to plan

Regardless of Aaron Nola registering an ERA virtually double that of Ranger Suárez’s this yr, Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson stated he nonetheless trusted Nola and would remorse not having both pitch within the collection.

So he determined to make use of them each in Sport 3, beginning with Nola and piggybacking Suárez.

The transfer paid off.

(Photograph by Luke Hales/Getty Pictures)

Nola’s velocity ticked up greater than 2 mph quicker than his season common with the break day, and it saved him from having to go to his bullpen within the center innings. Within the first two video games of the collection, the Dodgers scored all of their runs within the sixth and the seventh.

Suárez surrendered a house run on his first pitch of the night time, a solo shot to Tommy Edman to start out the third, after which carved by the Dodgers lineup for 5 innings.

4 ½. Banda enters the belief tree?

It’s arduous to recollect now, however this was a two-run recreation coming into the eighth inning, largely due to the work of Anthony Banda.

Roberts turned to Banda after Yamamoto put two on to start out the fifth. The southpaw obtained Schwarber to strike out, induced a flyout from Harper and ended the scoreless inning with a strikeout of Brandon Marsh to maintain the Phillies off the board.

It, after all, made no distinction within the remaining rating. However with so few standard choices for Roberts within the Dodgers’ bullpen, Banda made a case for himself shifting ahead.

Rowan Kavner is an MLB author for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand lined 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.

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