The Philadelphia Phillies needed someone to step up as they faced the Dodgers in a highly anticipated game between two of the best teams in the National League. On Tuesday night in Hollywood, Cristopher Sánchez, an All-Star for the first time, answered the call and seized command of the mound.
In a 6-2 victory at Dodger Stadium, left-hander Sánchez pitched six innings of one-run ball to keep Philadelphia as the best team in the National League. The Phillies offense was paced by Edmundo Sosa, who finished 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs.
The Phillies (67-46) secured the tiebreaker for probable postseason seeding and home-field advantages over Los Angeles (66-48) with their fourth victory of the season against the Dodgers. This would occur if the two teams finish with the same record.
In Wednesday’s series finale, Philadelphia, which has split the first two games of this series, will want to win its first since finishing a three-game home sweep of the Dodgers on July 11.
Sánchez overcame Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, who was making his third start of the year, and may be the best lefty in recent baseball history. In 4 2/3 innings, the 36-year-old Kershaw gave up just one run, making for a strong showing.
Leadoff hitter Kyle Schwarber scored the first run of the game in the fifth inning with an RBI blooper into center field to chase out reliever Clayton Kershaw after the Phillies left runners on the bases in the top of the fourth inning.
After Los Angeles substituted right-hander Brent Honeywell for the injured Brusdar Graterol in the sixth inning, the Phillies added three more runs.
The Phillies led 4-0 when Sosa scored two more runs with an opposite-field hit while the bases were loaded. Nick Castellanos also scored one run with a single. After allowing two more insurance runs for Philadelphia in the top of the ninth inning on back-to-back home runs by Sosa and Schwarber, Honeywell entered the game for the final three and a half innings.
After allowing two Dodgers to reach base during his seventh-inning outing, Sánchez was replaced by left-hander Matt Strahm, who finished the inning. To close the inning, he got slugger Shohei Ohtani to fly out to right.
After Jeff Hoffman threw the eighth, Teoscar Hernández hit a home run to center. However, in order to secure the victory, rookie Carlos Estévez handled the ninth with a scoreless session.
