PHILADELPHIA — They couldn’t blame the starting pitching this time.
Poor defense undermined a solid effort from the staff’s accidental ace, Gavin Stone, and led to the tie-breaking runs in the fifth inning as the Philadelphia Phillies handed the Dodgers their latest loss, 4-3, on Wednesday night.
The loss was the Dodgers’ seventh in their past 11 games.
The starting pitchers have a 9.06 ERA in that time but Stone did his best not to contribute to that Wednesday night. He gave up a leadoff home run to Kyle Schwarber in the first inning and a second run in the second inning when left fielder Miguel Vargas misplayed Brandon Marsh’s drive near the wall.
Kiké Hernandez started an inning-ending double play from his knees at third base to avoid more damage in the third inning and the score was tied 2-2 when Whit Merrifield led off the bottom of the fourth.
He lofted a routine fly ball into center field but Andy Pages lost in the dusky sky. It fell on the grass behind him and Merrifield raced into third with a triple. He was still there two batters later. With the infield in, Garrett Stubbs bounced out to Freddie Freeman and Chris Taylor made a run-saving stab to get Schwarber’s high-bounced grounder for the second out.
But Trea Turner hit a ground ball to Miguel Rojas’ left. The shortstop got to it but would have had to hurry to get the speedy Turner. It didn’t matter. Rojas didn’t pick it cleanly. Turner was safe and the go-ahead run scored. Alec Bohm made it a two-run inning with a two-out RBI double to left off Stone.
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The Dodgers’ offense scratched out single runs in the fourth and fifth innings against Phillies starter Christopher Sanchez.
Against the Phillies’ bullpen in the seventh inning, a leadoff double by Taylor and a single by Austin Barnes put runners at the corners with one out for Shohei Ohtani. But Ohtani struck out. against Phillies lefty Matt Strahm and Teoscar Hernandez flew out to right field.
The Dodgers made it a one-run game in the eighth when Pages doubled and Rojas lined a ball into left field. Pages scored but Rojas was out trying to stretch it into a double.
Phillies closer Jeff Hoffman retired the side in order in the ninth – leaving Ohtani on deck as the game ended.
More to come on this story.