Just as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies were taking the field in the second of their three-game series, the San Francisco Giants lost to the Miami Marlins. A Dodgers victory Tuesday night would pull them into a tie for first place in the National League West.
Kenta Maeda quickly worked his way through the first inning, retiring the side in order on 14 pitches. Phillies starter Vince Velasquez, who went to nearby Garey High School in Pomona, Calif., struck out Chase Utley and Corey Seager in the bottom of the first.
Justin Turner singled with two outs but Velasquez got Josh Reddick swinging to strike out the side. A Cameron Rupp walk hurt Maeda as Aaron Altherr followed with a two-run homer.
Freddy Galvis singled with one out, then stole second base. The Dodgers challenged the safe call but were unsuccessful in getting it overturned.
Galvis later stole third base with two outs, where he was stranded. Adrian Gonzalez led off the bottom of the second inning with a double down the right-field line. After a Yasmani Grandal swinging bunt advanced Gonzalez, he scored on Joc Pederson’s single to left field.
Howie Kendrick bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium was given a little extra excitement as the veteran hit a two-run home run that just cleared the fence in center field. Maeda doubled, and soon after scored on Seager’s RBI single.
Maeda worked around a walk and base hit in the third inning to keep the Dodgers’ 4-2 lead intact. Gonzalez improved to 2-for-2 with two doubles in the third with an extra-base hit to center. Grandal then added to the Dodgers’ lead with a towering two-run homer.
Philadelphia got one run back on Galvis’ solo homer in the fourth. The scoring continued in the bottom of the inning as Turner lined a two-run home run into the left field pavilion, extending the Dodgers’ lead to 8-3.
Maeda found himself in a bit of the jam in the fifth, with Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco connecting on back-to-back singles with one out. Ryan Howard was unable to capitalize, however, grounding into an inning-ending double play on Maeda’s 104th pitch of the game.
Kendrick added to his night with an RBI double in the bottom of the fifth. Jesse Chavez took over in the sixth and picked up a strikeout in a 1-2-3 inning. Utley and Seager hit consecutive singles with no outs in the bottom half of the sixth.
Luis Garcia struck out Turner then handed the ball to Elvis Araujo. The left-handed reliever retired Josh Reddick and Gonzalez to get the Phillies out of the inning without allowing any runs. Chavez allowed a pair of singles in the seventh but it didn’t amount to anything.
While the Dodgers offense went quiet, the bullpen continued to put together scoreless work. Grant Dayton came on in the eighth and struck out two of three batters faced. J.P. Howell then tossed a scoreless ninth inning to wrap up the Dodgers’ 9-3 victory.
