An elevated slider without much bite and left over the middle of the plate sunk Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The grand slam was the first Kershaw allowed in his career in 104 batters faced with the bases loaded.
Prior to the fateful sixth inning, the Phillies had only managed two hits. One was an infield single that went off Kershaw’s glove in the first inning. He proceeded to retire nine batters in a row.
The string was snapped in the fourth inning by Phillies rookie extraordinaire Rhys Hoskins on his two-out base hit to left field. Hoskins was in the thick of things in the sixth, as his two-out walk loaded the bases.
Aaron Altherr deposited Kershaw’s poor slider into the upper deck in left field for the go-ahead grand slam. The Phillies (3-5), Pittsburgh Pirates (2-3) and Texas Rangers (0-1) remain the only teams Kershaw has a losing record against in his career.
While it ended in disappointment, the night began on an overwhelmingly positive note for the Dodgers. Chris Taylor and Justin Turner hit back-to-back home runs to provide a lead a mere five pitches into the game.
Taylor’s drive to deep center field caromed off the top of the wall and rolled away from Odubel Herrera and Altherr. The inside-the-park home run was the Dodgers’ first since Trent Oeltjen accomplished the rare feat at Coors Field in 2011.
Prior to Taylor the last Dodgers player to hit a leadoff inside-the-park homer in the first inning was Dave Roberts in 2003. On a more personal level for Taylor, the home run snapped an 0-for-15 skid and was his 20th this season.
The Dodgers now have five players with at least 20 home runs, tying a franchise record set in 1979 and equaled in 2000. Yasmani Grandal is one homer away from helping the 2017 Dodgers set a new franchise record.
Nick Pivetta shook off the rocky start to get through six innings. He allowed just two hits — both for single — after the back-to-back home runs. Pivetta finished with eight strikeouts against two walks.
In his first time facing the Dodgers since April 29 when he surrendered three home runs and blew a save, Hector Neris gave up a solo home run to Curtis Granderson before closing out the game.
There was a bit of controversy when the ninth inning began, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts alerted the umpiring crew to a substantial amount of rosin on Neris’ cap. It was checked and he was permitted to continue wearing the hat.
