PHILADELPHIA — Upon further review, the Dodgers are not going to go 162-0.
Held to just two hits in seven innings by left-hander Jesus Luzardo, the Dodgers rallied late but ran their way into their first loss of the season, 3-2, to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Considering the decided preference shown by fans in Tokyo (despite the Dodgers officially being the road team against the Chicago Cubs) and the six-game homestand that followed, the loss came in the Dodgers’ first game in front of a hostile crowd this season – a packed house of 43,024.
“It’s been awhile. Been awhile,” said Tommy Edman, whose two-run home run in the ninth inning provided all of the Dodgers’ scoring. “Fortunately, it’s been a good start to the year. We were bound to lose eventually, but still a tough loss, for sure.”
The Dodgers made it tougher by running into outs that ended potential rallies in the eighth and ninth innings.
“Uncharted territory,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said with a wry grin about losing for the first time since Game 2 of last year’s World Series.
“Any loss is tough and I hate losing, we hate losing. But I think it does go to how we play. Today I just think that giving those guys three outs on the bases, it’s hard to win when you play eight innings on the offensive side. So that’s something that we have to clean up. We’ve gotten away with it some games early. But this is something that we’ve got to get better at.”
The first giveaway came in the sixth inning when Andy Pages was picked off first base. Two innings later, singles by Miguel Rojas and Shohei Ohtani put runners at the corners with two outs. Down 3-0, Ohtani tried to steal second with Mookie Betts at the plate and was thrown out by Phillies catcher JT Realmuto to end the inning.
In the ninth, Edman’s homer (his fifth of the season) brought the Dodgers within a run. The Dodgers trailed at one point in six of those eight season-opening wins.
“Up until the final out, we thought we were going to win,” Edman said. “We had some opportunities in the ninth inning, and unfortunately, they just made a few good plays.”
The ending came with a delayed fuse. After Will Smith drew a two-out walk, Chris Taylor pinch-ran for him and seemed to get the trying run into scoring position with a steal of second. After a replay review, though, the call was overturned, ending the game.
“When you give a good team outs and shorten the game, then it’s hard to win. It’s hard to beat a good team. That’s what happened tonight,” Roberts said.
“I just think that with Shohei, in that situation, you got to make sure you’re safe. He’s got the green light. Realmuto is one of the best throwers in the game. When you’re down three with Mookie at the plate, you got to make sure you’re safe if you’re going to go. Chris right there, took a chance. Unfortunately, Realmuto made another great throw.”
While winning their first eight games as defending champions, the Dodgers averaged more than 5½ runs per game and hit 18 home runs. They went down meekly against Luzardo on Friday.
The Phillies left-hander retired 16 of the first 17 batters the Dodgers sent up. Only Teoscar Hernandez broke the string with a leadoff single in the second inning. Pages his one-out walk in the sixth for the Dodgers’ second baserunner, but he was picked off.
“He was good tonight. He was good,” Roberts said of Luzardo. “He flooded the zone. His spin was good tonight. Certainly kept us off-balance, which we had a lot of bad swings. I thought Shohei’s ball, on any normal night, would’ve been a homer. I thought Teo’s ball, any normal night, would’ve been a homer. But you can’t take credit away from Luzardo. He pitched a heck of a ballgame.”
Ohtani’s fly ball to center field in the third inning came off the bat at 110.1 mph but died in center field on a windy night.
“I didn’t see any of the metrics on how hard it was blowing, but I think Shohei’s was 110 (mph off the bat) and 32(-degree launch angle) or something like that, which even if there’s a strong wind blowing like that, should be a homer 100% of the time,” Edman said. “So it must have been just howling up there, because, yeah, that ball he hits should be a homer every time.”
Hernandez was the only Dodger who came close to scoring in the first eight innings. He stole second after his second-inning single and flew out to the warning track in left field in the fourth inning. He reached on a two-out bloop double in the seventh inning and stole third. But Kiké Hernandez struck out to strand him.
Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto had only a slightly more difficult night than Luzardo’s 95-pitch stroll. The Phillies did have runners on base in five of his six innings, but they hit into two double plays and needed help to score their only run against Yamamoto.
Trea Turner doubled down the third-base line in the first inning then broke for third on a steal attempt. Yamamoto spotted him in time, stepped off the rubber and threw toward third. It was not a good throw, though, and got past Miguel Rojas, bouncing into foul territory as Turner trotted home.
“That was very regrettable,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter. “It was a very fundamental play.”
The Phillies put together what proved to be the decisive offense in the bottom of the seventh against Dodgers reliever Kirby Yates.
Yates lit the fire by walking the first man he faced. Nick Castellanos doubled to left, putting runners at second and third with no outs. Yates struck out JT Realmuto. But with the infield in, Bryson Stott singled through the left side. With the infield playing back, Brandon Marsh grounded out to drive in the second run of the inning.