LOS ANGELES—Cristopher Sánchez pitched six strong innings, Edmundo Sosa and Kyle Schwarber hit back-to-back home runs in the ninth, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6–2 on Tuesday night in a matchup of the National League’s top two teams.
Philadelphia clinched the season series over the Dodgers, 4–1, going into the finale on Wednesday.
“That can be huge coming down the stretch,” said Phillies Manager Rob Thomson, referencing the possibility of that margin determining home-field advantage in a potential post-season matchup, should the teams finish with equal records.
Sánchez (8–7) allowed one run and five hits, struck out two, and walked one to help end the Dodgers’ three-game winning streak.
“I was attacking the hitters early, and I was throwing a lot of strikes,” Sánchez said through an interpreter. “They have a lot of good hitters, but all good hitters have their weak spot.”
Schwarber’s two-out RBI single knocked Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw (0–2) out of the game in the fifth inning and gave the Phillies a 1–0 lead. After Austin Hays’ double, Kershaw had an 0–2 count on Brandon Marsh before hitting him to set up Schwarber.
Making his third start of the season, Kershaw gave up one run and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five against no walks.
“Just made some dumb mistakes. A couple guys got on base, which shouldn’t happen,“ Kershaw said. ”Health-wise, I’m fine. It’s just a matter of trying to pitch good.”
Dodgers reliever Brusdar Graterol sustained a strained right hamstring that forced him out in the sixth, a day after he came off the 60-day injured list.
“It’s super sad,” Kershaw said. “Definitely a tough night.”
The Phillies battered Graterol’s replacement, Brent Honeywell.
They tacked on three runs in the sixth. Nick Castellanos had an RBI single, and Sosa added a two-run single that made it 4–0.
The Dodgers got their first run in the sixth on Will Smith’s RBI groundout.
With Los Angeles trailing 4–1 in the seventh, Shohei Ohtani came to the plate as the potential tying run with runners on first and second, but All-Star reliever Matt Strahm induced a flyout to right to end the inning. Ohtani went 0 for 4. Strahm struck out Ohtani in the same inning last month during the Phillies’ three-game sweep of the Dodgers in Philadelphia.
“You can just kind of feel a sense that he’s looking for my fastball up. I mean, that is my bread and butter, and he’s very good at hitting those,” Strahm said. “I kind of went to my 1-B, and tried to stick one down and away.”
Teoscar Hernández, the Home Run Derby champion last month, pulled the Dodgers within 4–2 with his 25th homer off Jeff Hoffman in the eighth.
But Sosa went deep leading off the ninth on an 0–2 pitch from Honeywell that landed in the lower right-field seats. Schwarber’s 24th homer dinged off the right-field foul pole to extend the lead to 6–2.
“It was a complete win,” Thomson said. “Everyone in the lineup got on base. We played well defensively.”
Dodgers right fielder Andy Pages made the defensive play of the game in the seventh. He caught J.T. Realmuto’s fly and fired to third, where Kiké Hernández tagged out a sliding Bryce Harper to complete an inning-ending double play. The Phillies lost their challenge of the call.
