The Los Angeles Dodgers were headed down a familiar path of blowing a 2-0 lead but rallied in the sixth and seventh innings and salvaged their four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-4 win.
By doing so, the Dodgers lowered their magic number to clinch the National League West to one. The comeback began with Curtis Granderson’s home run, his second of the series. Andre Ethier added to his case to make the postseason roster by leading off the seventh inning with a pinch-hit home run that tied the game.
Chris Taylor followed with a triple off the wall in center field, and later scored the go-ahead run on Cody Bellinger’s soft groundout. That left Walker Buehler as the pitcher on the record and got the rookie his first win.
Kenta Maeda only pitched three innings for a second time in as many starts. He was on extra rest due to being skipped over in the series with the Washington Nationals. Despite the short outing, Maeda triggered a $1.5 million bonus for making his 25th start this season.
The first inning was particularly taxing for the right-hander. Maeda issued a four-pitch walk allowed a base hit that put two on with nobody out, and walked Aaron Altherr to load the bases with two outs.
Maeda otherwise struck out the side but needed 31 pitches to get through a scoreless first inning. Back-to-back two-out singles by Bellinger and Yasiel Puig in the third led to the Dodgers extending their lead.
Rhys Hoskins was unable to field a Curtis Granderson groundball and his error allowed a run to score. The Phillies picked up Mark Leiter Jr. in the bottom of the third inning behind a Nick Williams game-tying home run.
Chase Utley’s throwing error put Josh Fields in a bit of a jam in the fifth inning. He struck out Williams, but Hoskins followed with a two-run double that gave the Phillies a 4-2 lead.
After the Dodgers jumped back ahead, Brandon Morrow worked around a base hit in the bottom of the seventh, Tony Cingrani retired the first two batters faced before issuing walk, which led to Kenley Jansen entering for a four-out save.
While the Dodgers managed to snap their four-game losing streak, it came at the cost of Justin Turner, who was hit by a pitch on his right thumb and removed after one inning. X-rays were negative and Turner was diagnosed with thumb contusion.
