On long night in Philly, pitching, power propel LA

PHILADELPHIA -- The Dodgers scored their first run of Wednesday's game three hours and 41 minutes before they notched their first hit. Los Angeles also had its third pitcher of the night record a hit before the Phillies notched their first knock of the evening, which didn't come until exactly five hours after the opening pitch.

The final out, meanwhile, came more than six and a half hours after Joc Pederson had initially stepped into the box at Citizens Bank Park to face Phillies starter Nick Pivetta -- and less than 11 hours before Thursday's 9:35 a.m. PT series finale, which can be seen live, for free, exclusively on YouTube.

That's the kind of night -- and morning -- it was in Philadelphia, where David Freese hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh and Justin Turner followed with a pinch-hit, two-run shot of his own in the eighth to lift the Dodgers to a 7-2 victory following a two-hour and 37-minute rain delay in the top of the third.

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"I’m glad we got it in," Freese said. "And the ‘W’ obviously. Quick turnaround now. Those are easy games to kind of let it get away, but we stuck to it, scored late. JT had a nice homer to separate it."

Thursday's game will be the second time this series the Dodgers will be playing on minimal sleep, though at least the Phillies will be dealing with the same issue this time around. Los Angeles arrived at its team hotel at approximately 4:30 a.m. ET on Monday after Sunday night's 12-inning win in Boston.

Less than 15 hours later, the Dodgers came out and defeated the Phillies, 16-2, behind a pair of home runs from Cody Bellinger, who said he "drank two Red Bulls" to prepare for that one. Freese took a very different approach during Wednesday's lengthy delay.

"I always find time to get a nap," said a smiling Freese, who slept on a training table in the visiting clubhouse, while others played cards or listened to music.

That will give the 36-year-old a bit of a head-start on his teammates, who were scrambling to catch the first bus back to the hotel to get some sleep. Pederson stuck his head in the clubhouse to give everyone a 10-minute warning on the initial bus departure, sending a few players running toward the shower and others scrambling out the door.

"This is different, but we’ve all been through this at some point -- probably more than once," Freese said. "We’ll be fine."

Los Angeles starter Kenta Maeda pitched two hitless innings, while striking out three and walking two prior to the delay. Right-hander Casey Sadler took over after the lengthy layoff and retired the first two batters he faced before issuing a two-out walk to Scott Kingery. Julio Urías entered the game at that point and, fittingly on this night, escaped the inning before even officially facing a hitter, as Kingery was caught stealing to end the frame.

Urias then hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth to push the Dodgers' lead to 2-0, before conceding a bloop single to Kingery in the bottom half for Philadelphia's first hit.

"It’s been a long three or four days for us," manager Dave Roberts said. "But it was good, because as fatigued as the guys might be, we didn’t really take that to the field, which was great."

Whether it's a quick nap at the hotel or a pair of Red Bulls, the Dodgers insist they'll be ready for another quick turnaround on Thursday -- even if the days are starting to blend together at this point.

"Just like a few days ago -- that was here, right? Yeah, a few days ago, we came in a little flat, but then we turned it on a few innings into it," Freese said.