Shohei Ohtani provided five hitless innings on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Still, the Philadelphia Phillies overcame his effort with a late rally capped by Rafael Marchon’s three-run home run in the ninth inning for a 9-6 victory on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Oddsmakers favored the Dodgers at -145 on the moneyline, while the Phillies entered as +125 underdogs. The over/under was set at 9.5 runs, and the two clubs surpassed that total with 15 combined.
Ohtani, making his 13th start of the season, struck out five and walked one in 68 pitches. He retired the final 13 hitters he faced before being lifted after the fifth inning as part of the Dodgers’ plan to carefully manage his workload in his first year pitching for them following two elbow surgeries. The right-hander threw 42 strikes and exited with Los Angeles holding a 4-0 lead.
The Dodgers’ advantage began to unravel in the sixth inning when Philadelphia strung together a six-run frame. Justin Wrobleski, who entered in relief, surrendered three consecutive singles to load the bases before Bryce Harper lined a two-run double to center field. Brandon Marsh followed with a three-run home run to right, giving the Phillies the lead and drawing boos from the Dodger Stadium crowd of 44,063. Edgardo Henriquez relieved Wrobleski and allowed a solo shot to Max Kepler, extending Philadelphia’s margin to 6-4.
Los Angeles tied the game in the eighth when Ohtani, back at the plate, hit his 50th home run of the season. The blast came against reliever Cristopher Sánchez, who otherwise worked seven innings and allowed four runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. The Dodgers then loaded the bases, and a sacrifice fly from Alex Call scored Teoscar Hernández to make it 6-6.
The Phillies responded in the ninth. With two outs and two runners aboard, Marchon connected on a pitch from Blake Treinen and sent it into the left-field seats for the decisive three-run shot. It marked the Dodgers’ 18th blown-lead loss since July 4 and continued a troubling stretch for the bullpen, which has now given up 14 runs in 8 1/3 innings over the first two games of the series.
Earlier, Los Angeles had jumped to its initial lead in the second inning. Call started the scoring with a 408-foot solo homer, his second of the season. Andy Pages followed with a single, and Kiké Hernández added a two-run homer, a 415-foot drive that put the Dodgers ahead 3-0.
For Philadelphia, the win came on the heels of a 6-5 extra-inning victory the previous night, when the club clinched its second consecutive National League East title. The Phillies have erased deficits in successive games against the Dodgers’ relief corps.
The series concludes Wednesday night, with Philadelphia scheduled to start left-hander Jesús Luzardo (14-6, 4.03 ERA) against Los Angeles left-hander Blake Snell (4-4, 2.79 ERA).
