The Los Angeles Dodgers advanced to the National League Championship Series after a dramatic 2-1, 11-inning win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, clinching the Division Series three games to one. The victory came stunningly when Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering’s errant throw home on a routine comebacker allowed the winning run to score.
The Dodgers entered the game as -135 moneyline favorites, with the Phillies listed at +115 underdogs. The over/under was set at eight runs, well below the final total of three, marking a tense, low-scoring playoff duel.
With two outs in the 11th inning and the bases loaded, rookie Andy Pages hit a broken-bat grounder back toward the mound. Kerkering fielded the ball cleanly but, instead of throwing to first baseman Bryce Harper, turned and fired toward home plate to force out pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim. The throw sailed past catcher J.T. Realmuto and up the third-base line, allowing Kim to cross the plate and send the sellout crowd 50,563 into a roar as the Dodgers walked off with the series-clinching win.
“I was surprised he threw it home,” Kim said through a translator. “I just ran as hard as I could.”
Kerkering, visibly distraught afterward, admitted he rushed the play under pressure. “It just hit off my foot,” he said. “I thought it’d be a quicker throw home. Just a bad throw.”
The miscue capped a tightly contested game dominated by pitching. Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow delivered six strong innings, allowing only two hits and striking out eight. Philadelphia took a brief lead in the seventh inning on Nick Castellanos’ RBI double off reliever Emmet Sheehan. However, the Dodgers immediately answered in the bottom half when Phillies reliever Jhoan Duran walked Mookie Betts with the bases loaded, forcing the tying run.
From there, both bullpens traded zeroes. Dodgers rookie Roki Sasaki, averaging nearly 100 mph with his fastball, pitched three hitless innings of relief. Alex Vesia won after throwing a scoreless 11th, while the Dodgers’ staff combined for 12 strikeouts and held Philadelphia to four hits.
“It was stressful, but everyone contributed,” Glasnow said. “This team finds ways to win.”
Tommy Edman set up the winning rally with a single off Jesús Luzardo in the 11th. Two outs later, Max Muncy grounded a single past a diving Trea Turner, moving Edman to third. Kerkering then issued a walk to Kiké Hernández before the fateful at-bat by Pages, who entered the game 1-for-23 in the postseason.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called the play a lesson in execution and composure. “It’s something pitchers practice thousands of times,” Roberts said. “It’s just one of those moments where the situation gets big. He was focused on making the out and lost awareness of the situation.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson embraced Kerkering afterward. “He just got caught up in the moment,” Thomson said. “He’ll learn from it. He’s a young guy who gave everything he had.”
The Dodgers, who will appear in their eighth NLCS in the past 13 seasons, will face the winner of the Chicago Cubs–Milwaukee Brewers series beginning Sunday. Philadelphia, eliminated in the Division Series for the second straight year, managed only two hits after the third inning despite a strong outing from starter Cristopher Sánchez.
For Los Angeles, the victory was their third postseason series clinched by a walk-off win in franchise history, joining Bill Russell’s single in the 1978 NLCS and Chris Taylor’s home run in the 2021 Wild Card Game.
“It was a nail-biter,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said amid the clubhouse celebration. “They cracked, we didn’t.”
