The Los Angeles Dodgers fell short of a sweep and saw their three-game winning streak snapped in Wednesday’s 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium.
Zack Wheeler didn’t have his best stuff but still managed to toss six scoreless innings against the Dodgers, giving up five hits and collecting six strikeouts with four walks.
The final nine outs were logged by Jose Alvarado and Hector Neris, who combined to allow only two baserunners the rest of the game.
It was the first time the Dodgers were shut out since Sept. 14, 2019, a stretch of 162 games when including the postseason. “It’s one of those nights and you wash it away,” manager Dave Roberts said after the loss to the Phillies.
New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom started the last game the Dodgers were shut out in, yielding just three hits in seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. “That makes sense. I didn’t know, but that’s no surprise,” Roberts said after learning who pitched against L.A.
That the Dodgers were held without a run in Wednesday’s series finale against the Phillies wasn’t all that surprising considering the lineup lacked several key contributors such as Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy and Justin Turner.
Bellinger and Muncy recently were placed on the 10-day injured list, and Turner simply got a day off. “Well, we haven’t had a lot of our guys all year, and it’s the first time. I guess the odds, regardless of who you’re running out there, it’s bound to happen,” Roberts said of the Dodgers being shut out.
“Zack threw a heck of a ballgame. Alvarado isn’t necessarily a strike-thrower, but he was on point. And when he’s filling up the zone, he’s tough. Neris was kind of scattered but got a double play when he needed. So it’s bound to happen, but our guys are competing every night.”
Kershaw credits Phillies
Clayton Kershaw recorded another quality start but still received a tough-luck loss against the Phillies after allowing two runs and eight hits in six innings of work.
“They made me work. That’s probably the biggest takeaway. The at-bat quality for those guys was really good, so you have to give them a lot of credit. They made me grind, they got my pitch count up, fouled off a lot of pitches,” Kershaw said.
“Overall, I thought I had decent stuff. My curveball wasn’t good, but I thought the fastball and slider were OK. They made me work and got my pitch count up. I was fortunate enough to get through a couple of those innings there. I felt like I had a leadoff hitter on basically every inning. A lot of things weren’t going my way, but fortunate to get through six.”
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