Brock Stewart was removed from his start before Vince Velasquez allowed a hit, but the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied to come away with a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a four-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Whereas Velasquez didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning, the Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning without collecting a hit themselves. After Rhys Hoskins reached with one out on catcher’s interference, Brock Stewart issued back-to-back walks to load the bases.
He then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Hoskins to score. Consecutive singles and a sacrifice bunt to start the second inning put Stewart in more trouble. Cesar Hernandez followed with a three-run home run, though Stewart managed to settle in from there.
He did allow two more base hits in the inning but stranded both and proceeded to retire seven in a row to complete four frames. Though, that he only went four innings in a second consecutive start was problematic.
Of course, the Dodgers offense did little to aid Stewart’s cause. They didn’t manage their first baserunner until Cody Bellinger’s one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth inning. Yasiel Puig’s one-out single in the sixth broke up Velasquez’s no-hitter.
He wound up on second base Rhys Hoskins bobbled the ball in left field, and later scored on Joc Pederson’s double. Justin Turner’s RBI single trimmed the Dodgers’ deficit to 4-2 and knocked Velasquez out of the game.
Seranthony Dominguez retired Yasmani Grandal to end the sixth inning, then struck out the side in the seventh. Matt Kemp’s pinch-hit RBI double in the eighth inning pulled the Dodgers to within a run and sparked a rally.
After Kiké Hernandez reached on an error, Max Muncy hit a comebacker that went off Adam Morgan’s glove and allowed Hernandez to score the tying run. Grandal’s grounder to the left side of the infield found a hole and went for a go-ahead RBI single.
Kenley Jansen retired the side in order to earn a save in the Dodgers’ ninth win in their last 11 games.
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