Just as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies were getting underway at Citizens Bank Park, the Pittsburgh Pirates completed their three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants. That guaranteed the Dodgers would remain in first place in the National League West through Wednesday night.
Chase Utley again received a standing ovation prior to his first at-bat, which ended in a groundout. Phillies rookie Jake Thompson then walked Corey Seager, but retired Justin Turner and Josh Reddick to end a scoreless first inning.
After allowing a leadoff single to Cesar Hernandez, Scott Kazmir was aided by Adrian Gonzalez. The Gold-Glove first baseman snared a line drive to his left and touched first base to complete an unassisted double play.
Aaron Altherr kept the inning alive with a base hit but was stranded by Tommy Joseph. The same was true for Joc Pederson after he singled with two outs in the second inning.
Maikel Franco walked on four pitches to lead off the bottom of the second, and later scored on Freddy Gavlis’ double to left-center field. Kazmir struck out Peter Bourjos and induced Thompson into a groundout to keep the Phillies’ lead at 1-0.
Thompson set the Dodgers down in order in the third, ending the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. Hernandez improved to 2-for-2 on the night with his second single. The base hit meant the Phillies had their leadoff man reach in each of the first three innings.
Kazmir didn’t allow it to amount to anything however, as Odubel Herrera lined out to center, and Altherr bounced into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play. Thompson found himself in trouble in the fourth after a Turner leadoff single and Reddick walk.
Thompson fell behind in the count, 3-1, to Gonzalez, who lined a three-run homer to right field. Turner padded the Dodgers’ lead in the fifth with a skyscraper of a two-run home run. The Phillies loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth behind a one-out single and pair of two-out walks.
Altherr grounded into a force out, and Kazmir escaped the jam with the Dodgers still leading 5-1. Phillies reliever Frank Herrmann worked around a Pederson leadoff single in the sixth inning by retiring the next three batters faced, including two by strikeout.
Joseph jumped on Kazmir’s first pitch in the bottom of the sixth — a hanging breaking ball — and crushed a solo home run to the upper deck in left field. Franco and Carlos Ruiz combined for back-to-back singles, knocking Kazmir out of the game.
Grant Dayton again inherited two runners on from Kazmir to face Galvis. While Galvis hit a home run in the last instance, he settled for a single to left field that loaded the bases. Bourjos flied out to right field, but Franco didn’t attempt to tag.
Dayton worked his way out of trouble by inducing two more fly balls. Seager doubled to lead off the seventh and Gonzalez later hit a two-run homer. Dayton and Joe Blanton combined to throw a scoreless bottom half of the inning.
After Jesse Chavez tossed a scoreless eighth inning, and Josh Fields followed suit in the ninth to wrap up the Dodgers’ 7-2 victory. The win pushed their lead to 1.5 games in the NL West.
