LOS ANGELES — The Philadelphia Phillies skillfully deployed an unconventional pitching scheme, asking their longest-tenured starter to act as opener, and rode a resurgent offensive attack Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium to keep this National League Division Series alive with an 8-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez combined to allow one run in seven innings. Kyle Schwarber made a majestic swing in the fourth inning, throwing a ball almost out of the ballpark, and the Phillies could breathe again. They scored five much-needed runs in the eighth inning against future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. That’s when, for the first time in this series, the Phillies were able to relax.
There will be a Game 4. The Dodgers hold a 2-1 series lead and will send their No. 4 starter, Tyler Glasnow, to the mound. The Phillies will counter with their best, Cristopher Sánchez.
It’s still a series.
Aaron Nola was at his best, then Ranger Suarez sailed
Nola’s first pitch of the day, a 95.1 mph fastball to Shohei Ohtani, was the fastest he’s thrown since July 11, 2024. He broke it two pitches later, hitting 95.3. He seemed curious to start Nola, who produced a 5.84 ERA in eight starts after returning from the injured list Aug. 17, opposite left-hander Ranger Suarez. But the veteran delivered, retiring seven of the eight batters he faced in two innings.
Aaron Nola unleashed impressive speed early on and helped set the tone for the Phillies. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Even though Nola was in charge, the Phillies opted to pull him after two innings. Tommy Edman, who led off the third, finished 1 for 20 in his career against Nola, including the playoffs. He homered on Suarez’s first pitch, a 92.8 mph fastball. Suarez settled in, handling the Dodgers’ best lefties — Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman — and staying in balance with the base traffic. Perhaps his best pitch of the night was an 0-1 slider to Max Muncy in the sixth, causing a double play to end the inning after allowing two consecutive hits.
The Dodgers shut down Phillies stars in this series…until they didn’t
The most telling stat from the first two games of this series is largely what Schwarber and Bryce Harper didn’t do. The Dodgers had been aggressive in the strike zone with every batter, daring them to strike and succeeding in doing so. A similar scenario played out during the third match. Los Angeles had already taken the lead. The Phillies had yet to hit a home run in the series.
Schwarber and Harper were a combined 1 for 15 with eight strikeouts when Schwarber started the fourth inning against Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
That’s when things changed. Yamamoto missed with a fastball off home plate, then with a splitter under the zone. Trailing 2-0 in the count, Yamamoto attempted a letter-high fastball to Schwarber. The slugger connected, sending one into orbit about 455 feet from home plate. Harper followed with a single to extend what would become a three-run fourth inning and an abbreviated night for Yamamoto. At over four rounds, it was Yamamoto’s shortest outing since June 1.
Phillies offense gaining momentum
The Phillies showed something on Wednesday, scoring their most points in a playoff game since Game 2 of the 2023 NLCS (10). But the group initially struggled to complete its lead. Brandon Marsh struck out with the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth. Two runners reached with no outs in the seventh, but neither scored.
Then came the eighth. After more than two games of struggling to build momentum and produce big runs, the Phillies offense found some catharsis with five runs and plenty of base traffic. JT Realmuto took the second pitch he saw from Kershaw deep to left, and things continued from there. Schwarber, who drove in two of the runs, extended his record for most left-to-left homers in a postseason (four). The offense looked much more like the group that finished the regular season fourth in the majors in OPS (.759), dominating opponents and conjuring up late-inning magic.
