LOS ANGELES — It was a rerun from Tanner Scott’s nightmares.
Brought in to protect a two-run lead in the eighth inning, Scott gave up three runs, including two on a home run by Edmundo Sosa, erasing an excellent start from Roki Sasaki and ending the Dodgers’ six-game winning streak with a 4-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies Saturday night.
Scott led the majors with 10 blown saves last season but this was his first of 2026. He converted all five of his save opportunities since Edwin Diaz went out with an elbow injury and had not given up a run in 12⅓ innings before Saturday.
“Tanner’s been great,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “No one is trying to give up hits and homers. But part of the equation is, you get count leverage, and then you have to be able to put them away. And tonight we couldn’t do that.”
One streak did continue – Sasaki extended his streak of positive steps forward to three.
It started with his career-high seven innings against the Angels two weeks ago. He followed that up with five solid innings in Milwaukee, bouncing back with four scoreless innings after a rough first.
With Saturday’s start, Sasaki has a 2.08 ERA over his past three, holding hitters to a .177 average with 19 strikeouts and just three walks in 17⅓ innings.
“I don’t know the numbers but I know the month of May has been a very good month for him,” Roberts said. “It seems like every outing he continues to improve. And tonight the velocity was where we were hoping it would be. So then you layer in the velocity, with the command, with the secondary. He made the one mistake to (Alec) Bohm. But outside of that, I thought he was very good.”
Against the Phillies, Sasaki allowed just one hit in the first five innings, retiring 15 of the first 17 batters he faced – but that hit went a long way. Bohm sent a 1-and-0 fastball 406 feet over the wall.
Other than that, he looked as close to the dynamic young starter advertised during his winter leap from Japan to MLB. His fastball hit 100 mph for the first time this season, hit 99.1 mph or higher 12 times and averaged 98.5 mph (up from a season average of 97 mph) while producing eight swings-and-misses (of his 18).
“Mechanically I haven’t changed really that much. But my physical condition is getting better, so I think it’s because of that,” Sasaki said through his interpreter of the jump in velocity.
“Basically I have kept doing the same thing and then stacking small things. Now it feels like it’s all put together right now.”
After striking him out in his first two at-bats, Sasaki gave up an infield single to Kyle Schwarber with one out in the sixth inning and another single to Trea Turner, ending his night.
“I’ve been keeping building a lot of things. I feel really satisfied where I’m at right now because a lot of things are getting together,” Sasaki said. “I feel like I was able to pitch the way I wanted. That’s my way.”
It’s way easier for the Dodgers who seemed to buckle up and lower the safety bar whenever Sasaki took the mound.
“I am (more comfortable with him on the mound now),” Roberts said. “Early on, certainly last year, a little bit this year, you’re trying to protect him. I think that you’re trying to not let the shoe drop, leave him with a feeling of confidence when he leaves the mound.
“I’m not necessarily on pins and needles. But I just feel like I can give him a little more leash now.”
The Dodgers had pushed across single runs in the second inning (on Alex Call’s RBI single) and again in the fourth when center fielder Justin Crawford dove for Call’s sinking liner and came up empty. The ball got past Crawford for a double and Call went to third when right fielder Adolis Garcia bobbled it. Santiago Espinal drove him in with a sacrifice fly.
Alex Vesia was called in to protect that 2-1 lead in the sixth inning and walked Bryce Harper to load the bases with one out. Vesia struck out pinch-hitter Edmundo Sosa and got Bohm to bounce to third.
The Dodgers gave the bullpen some breathing room after that. Andy Pages doubled off Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering – a matchup straight out of Philadelphia’s nightmares – and scored on Mookie Betts’ third hit of the night, a single to right field. Garcia’s throw made it a close play at the plate requiring an extended replay review – which didn’t clearly show Pages touching the plate or JT Realmuto tagging him so the safe call stood.
It wasn’t enough.
Justin Crawford led off the eighth inning with a single off Scott. A ground out and a fly out had Crawford on second and Scott nearly out of the inning. But Harper drove an RBI single into right field, making it a one-run game again.
Scott got ahead 1-and-2 against Sosa but a symptom of last year’s struggles resurfaced – he left a two-strike fastball over the plate and Sosa drove it into the left-field pavilion to give the Phillies the lead. Scott had two strikes on each of the three Phillies hitters who reached base in the inning.
“I was trying to go up and I left it more on the plate,” Scott said. “It wasn’t out of the strike zone with two strikes. He got me.
“We were trying to go up and I thought I could get it high enough. I left it too much in the zone. Just a bad pitch.”
Roberts bemoaned Scott’s failure to put away Crawford, Harper or Sosa after getting ahead in the count with each.
“He got count leverage on every guy, essentially, starting with the Crawford at-bat,” Roberts said.”Get him 0-2, and then you leave a slider, he blocks it for a hit. And then you get count leverage on Harper. And then Sosa, you get count leverage, 0-2 to 1-2, and then you throw a pitch in his wheelhouse, and that’s what happens.
“It happened quick.”