Win over Dodgers could mean a key advantage for Phillies

LOS ANGELES -- An optimist’s optimist might say the Phillies are on a roll.

They’ve won two of three, after all.

After six consecutive series losses dating to mid-July, the Phillies have looked better the past few days, including in Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory over the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. If the Phillies win on Wednesday, it will be their first series victory since they swept the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park on July 9-11.

“It would be nice to get a winning streak going,” Phillies left-hander Matt Strahm said. “I’d feel a lot better about that. You know, this game is really hard. Just like at the beginning of the year, none of it matters unless we do what we need to do at the end.”

Tuesday’s win better positions the Phillies for a World Series run. It clinched a season-series victory over Los Angeles, meaning if the Phillies and Dodgers finish the regular season tied for the best record in the National League, the Phils will have home-field advantage through the NL Championship Series.

That’s not nothing.

“That can be huge coming down the stretch,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “That’s a good thing. That’s a really good club over there.”

Almost everything clicked for the Phils on Tuesday. Left-hander Cristopher Sánchez had his best start since he threw the first shutout of his career on June 28 against the Marlins. He allowed one run in six-plus innings.

“They have a lot of good hitters, but all good hitters have their weak spots,” Sánchez said through the team’s interpreter. “That’s what we study for outings like this.”

Kyle Schwarber gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning when he hit Clayton Kershaw’s 3-2 slider into center field for a two-out single to score a run. It was Kershaw’s final pitch of the night.

“Kershaw is Kershaw,” Schwarber said. “Hall of Famer. He’s been around a long time. He knows what he’s doing with the baseball. He did a great job through those things, limiting some things. Then, obviously, we were able to get to him there. Hitting the single there and getting a run home got things going.”

The Phillies scored three more runs in the sixth to take a 4-0 lead.

Sánchez allowed a run in the bottom of the inning, then put the first two runners on base to start the seventh, prompting Thomson to call upon Strahm. Strahm retired Nick Ahmed and Austin Barnes to send Shohei Ohtani to the plate with two outs.

Strahm bested Ohtani in a memorable at-bat on July 10 in Philadelphia. Strahm entered the seventh inning that night with runners at the corners, one out and a two-run lead. He struck out Ohtani on four pitches.

Tuesday had a similar feel with runners on first and second, one out and a three-run lead.

Strahm started with a couple four-seam fastballs to get to 1-1. Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto called for a cutter.

Strahm almost never throws cutters to lefties. In fact, he thinks the last time he threw one to a left-handed hitter was against Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz in a Grapefruit League game on March 21, 2023.

Cruz crushed the ball just foul down the right-field line.

So why a cutter then against arguably baseball’s best hitter?

“I trust J.T.,” Strahm said.

Ohtani swung and missed to go to 1-2.

Strahm threw two fastballs away for balls to get to 3-2. Ohtani fouled off another fastball.

Then, Strahm finally threw a slider away. It was supposed to be a little more off the plate, but it got the job done, as Ohtani flied out to right field to end the inning. Strahm slapped his glove several times and shouted before leaving the field.

He was fired up.

Edmundo Sosa and Schwarber hit back-to-back homers in the ninth. Schwarber’s homer almost hit the top of the right-field foul pole.

“I felt like the games that we’ve been playing have been pretty good recently,” Schwarber said. “Obviously, you’re going to lose games. They beat us yesterday. You’re going to be OK with that, because they straight up beat us. We didn’t do much in that game that really hurt us. They just went out and beat us. I feel like we’re going to be OK with that at the end of the day. When we walk out, we expect to win, but if we play our brand of baseball … we’re going to take that result at the end of the day.”