Hours after the San Diego Padres suffered their first loss of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers endured the same by falling 3-2 to the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a six-game road trip.
The Padres and Dodgers had been the final undefeated teams remaining this season.
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The Dodgers’ first loss in 2025 came without Freddie Freeman in the lineup as he was placed on the 10-day injured list Thursday because of a sprained right ankle. Freeman aggravated his surgically-repaired ankle when he slipped in the shower at the beginning of the week.
He missed the entire series against the Atlanta Braves but was hopeful to return for the start of the Dodgers’ road trip.
The Dodgers certainly could’ve used Freeman as they were shut down by Jesús Luzardo. The southpaw got through seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts.
The Dodgers were hurt in some part by strong wind blowing in. It was a factor in deep fly balls by Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández remaining in the ballpark.
Luzardo breezed through the middle innings as he needed just seven pitches in the third, nine pitches in the fourth and 10 in the fifth. To that point he’d retired 12 batters in a row and only thrown 58 pitches in the game.
That streak was snapped at 13 when Andy Pages worked a one-out walk in the sixth inning but nothing came of it — in part because he was picked off for the third out with Mookie Betts batting and a 2-0 count.
Luzardo’s only instance of facing much trouble came after a two-out double by Hernández was followed by Will Smith drawing a walk to put two on in the seventh inning. He escape the jam by striking out Kiké Hernández.
Teoscar Hernández had both of the Dodgers’ two hits against Luzardo.
Luzardo’s performance outshined Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who went seven innings with just one unearned run allowed. That came after Trea Turner doubled in the first inning and scored on Yamamoto’s errant pickoff throw to third base. It amounted to the last seven runs scored against the Dodgers all being unearned.
Yamamoto became the first Dodgers starting pitcher to so much as reach the sixth inning this season.
Philadelphia scored two runs off Kirby Yates in the seventh inning to create some separation. Singles by Miguel Rojas and Ohtani brought Betts to the plate as the tying run in the eighth. But that threat ended with Ohtani getting thrown out on a stolen base attempt.
Tommy Edman connected on a two-run homer in the ninth inning to extend his hitting streak to nine games, but the Dodgers couldn’t complete the comeback effort.
Dodgers’ struggles against Phillies
Friday’s game was seemingly an extension of the Dodgers going 1-5 against the Phillies last year, which included getting swept in three games at Citizens Bank Park.
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