PHILADELPHIA — The score was tied 0-0 after the first inning at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday night. That was the high point of the series for the Dodgers.
They trailed at the end of every other inning in the three-game set against the Philadelphia Phillies who completed a sweep with a 5-1 victory on Thursday night.
If the Dodgers viewed the series against the team with the best record in baseball as a measuring stick to determine where they stood in the National League hierarchy, the Phillies took that stick and whacked them over the head with it. The Phillies beat the Dodgers soundly in the series opener, 10-1, on Tuesday night, won a close one on Wednesday and then pulled away Thursday. The sweep by the Phillies was their first over the Dodgers in Philadelphia since May 2004.
The depleted Dodgers have now lost eight of their past 12 games and must be looking at the All-Star break the way a drowning man would eye a pool noodle. Since another “measuring stick” series in New York against the Yankees last month, the Dodgers have barely been a winning team (14-13).
Looking to minimize damage by the dangerous left-handed hitters at the top of the Phillies’ lineup (Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper), the Dodgers ‘opened’ with lefty reliever Anthony Banda. The right-handed hitter nestled between Schwarber and Harper, Trea Turner, hit a solo home run off Banda.
Since leaving the Dodgers as a free agent following the 2022 season, Turner has gone 16 for 37 (.432) with three home runs and seven RBIs in nine games against his former team. In this series, he was 7 for 12 with two home runs and drove in more runs by himself (six) than the Dodgers scored as a team (five).
Landon Knack followed Banda and gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, Brandon Marsh. It got better for awhile but the Phillies got to him again in the sixth inning. A bloop single dropped in front of center fielder James Outman. Marsh lashed a triple into the right field corner and Johan Rojas singled through a drawn-in infield to drive in a second run.
The Dodgers were fortunate to miss NL ERA leader (and Cy Young frontrunner) Ranger Suarez in this series. But they did face the pitchers who are second (Zack Wheeler), fourth (Christopher Sanchez) and 14th (Aaron Nola) in the league in ERA.
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They didn’t fare well against the trio, managing four runs in 17 innings and batting .188 (8 for 42) with 21 strikeouts against the kind of starting rotation they thought they would have this season.
They loaded the bases with one out twice Thursday – in the second inning against Nola and the eighth against reliever Jeff Hoffman. They managed to avoid scoring any runs either time.
In the second, Shohei Ohtani struck out and Will Smith bounced into a force out. In the eighth, Miguel Rojas lined into a double play, Teoscar Hernandez trapped hopelessly far off second base.
The only damage the Dodgers managed Thursday was a solo home run off the left field foul pole by Gavin Lux in the fifth inning.
More to come on this story.