Dodgers 9 Phillies 3: Tied For First

The Dodgers powered past the Phillies again and moved into a tie for first in the NL West.

Tuesday’s game started off innocently enough, as each team went quietly in the first. Both teams put up a crooked number in the second inning, starting with Philly. The Phillies started the scoring off Kenta Maeda, who got a long lineout to begin the frame. He issued a walk to Cameron Rupp and then allowed a homer to Aaron Altherr, the 14th homer Maeda has surrendered in 23 starts.

The Dodgers immediately answered against Phillies ace Vincent Velasquez. Adrian Gonzalez led off the second with a double and was moved to third on a swinging bunt by Yasmani Grandal. Joc Pederson put together a nice piece of hitting and poked a single to left to score Gonzalez. Howie Kendrick followed that up with a wallscraping homer on his bobblehead night to make it 3-2. Kenta Maeda followed it up with a double to left center, moved to third on a ground ball and scored on a Corey Seager RBI single.

Meanwhile, Maeda struggled with efficiency. Maeda’s strength is his pinpoint control, so it was weird to see him need 69 pitches to get through three innings. He had the rough second and he allowed a pair of baserunners in the third but got two lineouts to escape the threat.

The Dodgers jumped back on Velasquez in the third as Gonzalez hit another double, this one with one out. Grandal didn’t swinging bunt him over this time, but instead deposited his 18th home run of the season into the right field bleachers. Some idiot at this site (me) was worried about his shoulder after taking a foul ball off it at the end of yesterday’s game. Nothing to see here.

Maeda allowed a solo homer in the fourth, but finished the inning at 89 pitches. He came back out for the fifth with an 8-3 lead thanks to a two-run homer by Justin Turner. Maeda gave up back-to-back singles with one out, but got Ryan Howard to ground into a double play. He finished the fifth with 104 pitches so while he didn’t pitch very well at all, five innings was enough and the Dodgers gave him enough of a lead to work with.

Kendrick added an RBI double in the fifth, and the rest of the game was pretty quiet. Jesse Chavez had a bit of trouble in the seventh but tossed two scoreless innings. Grant Dayton might be a thing, as he struck out two in the eighth and now has struck out eight of the 17 batters he’s faced in the majors. J.P. Howell got the ninth and closed it out to give the Dodgers a 9-3 win

The Los Angeles Dodgers were eight games out of first place on June 26th, which was the last time Clayton Kershaw made a start. Many declared the season over at that point, and given how poorly the team was playing and an injury to their best player, it was hard to argue. The Giants were blanked by the Miami Marlins today, so the Dodgers and Giants are now tied atop the NL West with matching 64-49 records. The Dodgers have three series before the next time they play the Giants. They will play the Pirates, Phillies and Reds (four games in Cinci). The Giants play the Orioles, Pirates and Mets. The Dodgers would be wise to put some distance between them and the Giants in the next 11 games. It’s crazy to think that despite the poor start and the record-setting pace of injuries, this team is tied for first place and tied for the fifth-best record in all of baseball. DEPTH.

The Dodgers look for a sweep and for a chance to sit alone in first place for the first time since May 10th with a win in a matinee game tomorrow. Scott Kazmir gets the ball for the Dodgers.