A bases loaded walk – the first ever issued by Jhoan Duran – and a panic inspired brain fart; that’s how the Dodgers scored their two runs. But those two runs were enough as Los Angeles downed the Phillies 2-1 in 11 innings to advance to the NLCS.
The winning run scored on a dribbler back to pitcher Orion Kerkering, who bobbled the ball, panicked, and threw wildly to home past catcher J.T. Realmuto. Kerkering had plenty of time to pick up the ball and make a throw to first to retire Andy Pages, but elected to rush a throw to the plate. The bases were loaded and there were two outs at the time.
Starter Cristopher Sanchez pitched a gem and gave the Phillies 6.1 innings of one-run ball. He left with one out in the seventh as Duran, normally the team’s closer, came on to pitch to Pages with runners on first and second with one out. Duran got Pages to ground out to Bryce Harper with pinch-runner Justin Dean moving from second to third and Kike Hernandez advancing to second on the play. Shohei Ohtani was intentionally walked and Duran then walked Betts to force home a run. It was the first time in his career that Duran had issued a bases loaded walk and it tied the game 1-1. Duran struck out Teoscar Hernandez to end the inning.
READY TO TURN YOUR ATTENTION TO FOOTBALL? WE’VE GOT E-A-G-L-E-S GEAR, TOO!
Duran threw a scoreless eighth and Matt Strahm threw a clean ninth inning. In a surprise move, manager Rob Thomson went to Jesus Luzardo, who was set to start a potential Game 5. Luzardo put down the Dodgers in the 10th. In the 11th, a pair of singles gave L.A. runners on first and third with two outs. Thomson played the matchups and went to Kerkering, who walked Kike Hernandez. Pages topped an 0-1 pitch back to Kerkering, putting the final play into motion.
The Phillies scored their only run against Emmett Sheehan in the seventh. Realmuto singled and Max Kepler hit into a fielder’s choice. Nick Castellanos was down 1-2 in the count when he grounded a ball down the third base line to score Kepler for a 1-0 lead. Sheehan got the final two outs to end the inning and Roki Sasaki came on to retire nine straight Phillies hitters to get the game to the 11th.
The Phillies put a runner into scoring position against Alex Vesia in the 11th when Harper walked and went to second on a wild pitch. Vesia then got Bohm to line out to center and struck out pinch hitter Harrison Bader on the 10th pitch of his at-bat.
The Phillies managed just four hits in the game with Trea Turner, Schwarber, and Harper – the top of the order – going 1-for-14 with a walk and four strikeouts. The only hit was a first inning double by Schwarber who finished the inning standing on third base after Brandon Marsh struck out to end the inning.
The Phillies finished with 96 wins, but for the second season in a row were eliminated in their first series of the postseason.
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