Blake Snell struck out nine over six shutout innings of one-hit ball for the Dodgers before relievers Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki thwarted Philadelphia’s ninth-inning rally, sending Los Angeles to a 4-3 victory over the Phillies in Game 2 of their NL Division Series on Monday night.
Shohei Ohtani delivered an RBI single for his first hit of the series in a four-run seventh, and the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
Nick Castellanos slid headfirst into second base, barely eluding a tag, for a two-run double off Blake Treinen that at last sent the Philadelphia crowd into a frenzy and made it a 4-3 game.
Vesia came in to face Bryson Stott, who tried to advance Castellanos with a bunt. But third baseman Max Muncy wheeled and threw to shortstop Mookie Betts sprinting over to cover the bag in time to get Castellanos.
Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader singled and Max Kepler grounded into a fielder’s choice that left runners at the corners with two outs.
Sasaki entered and retired NL batting champion Trea Turner on a groundout to second for his second save of the series. Freddie Freeman made a game-saving play at first base, going to his knees to pick Tommy Edman’s poor throw on his backhand while keeping his right toe on the bag before rolling over onto his back with the ball.
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The World Series champion Dodgers took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series and can advance to their 17th National League Championship Series with a Game 3 win Wednesday night back home in Los Angeles.
A two-time Cy Young Award winner, Snell was sensational against another punchless effort from the Phillies in the playoffs. Turner, NL home run champion Kyle Schwarber and two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper went a combined 1 for 10 with with five strikeouts.
On the 15-year anniversary of Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay’s playoff no-hitter against the Reds, Snell had one going until Edmundo Sosa’s two-out single in the fifth.
Snell — who walked four — was tangled in a pitchers’ duel with Jesus Luzardo until the decisive seventh.
Luzardo threw 24 pitches in the first before the left-hander settled down and retired 17 straight Dodgers until Game 1 star Teoscar Hernandez singled to lead off the inning. Freeman doubled and that was all for Luzardo.
After Orion Kerkering got a strikeout, Kiké Hernández hit a slow infield roller to shortstop Trea Turner who rushed an off-target throw home that allowed Hernandez to score. Will Smith lined a two-run single for the 3-0 lead and Ohtani — who struck out four times in the opener and again leading off Game 2 — ripped a run-scoring single off left-handed reliever Matt Strahm.
The Dodgers, who used the injured list this season 37 times for 2,585 days, according to Major League Baseball, are finally mostly healthy and need to win just once in two home games to clinch the series. Teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have won 80 of 90 times, including 54 sweeps.
The NL East champion Phillies were used to flailing at Snell.
Snell, who missed four months of his first season in Los Angeles with shoulder inflammation, struck out a season-high 12 over seven innings in a September start against the Phillies. The Phillies in the Game 2 starting lineup who had faced Snell hit only a combined .152 lifetime against him.
Snell worked out of his only jam in the sixth when he issued consecutive one-out walks to finally get a rise out of more than 45,000 that had been nervously subdued most of the game. Snell got Harper, the NLDS career home run leader with 11, to swing hard on strike three and Alec Bohm ended the threat with a chopper to third that snuffed the energy out of the ballpark.
The punchless Phillies were 1 for 18 with nine strikeouts through six.
Up next
The Dodgers send RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound in Game 3. Yamamoto struck out a postseason-high nine while pitching into the seventh inning in the Wild Card Series clincher against the Reds. Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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