LOS ANGELES — Kyle Schwarber’s bat is alive and well in the postseason, and so are the Philadelphia Phillies.
Schwarber hit two home runs, including a mammoth shot to spark a three-run fourth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided elimination in the National League Division Series with an 8-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday.
Aaron Nola and Ranger Suarez (1-0) combined to allow one run over seven innings and J.T. Realmuto added a home run as the Phillies rolled in Game 3 after the Dodgers won the first two games at Philadelphia.
“I think we all knew we were kind of pressing as a group in the first two games and wanted to win so bad,” said the Phillies’ Trea Turner, who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs. “We know we’re really good. We just need to play like we always do.”
Tommy Edman hit a home run for the defending champion Dodgers, while Shohei Ohtani went 0-for-5 and has one hit in 14 at-bats with seven strikeouts during the series. Los Angeles lost for the first time in five playoff games this year.
“The consensus of this interview, it feels like we’re eliminated,” said the Dodgers’ Mookie Betts, who had a triple among his two hits. “I think we have to understand that we’re still up 2-1. Obviously there’s a lot of pressure on us to play the game, but pressure is a privilege.”
Game 4 in the best-of-five series is set for Thursday at Los Angeles.
Nola opened with a pair of scoreless innings before giving way to Suarez, who allowed Edman’s home run on his first pitch.
Schwarber tied the game 1-1 with a 455-foot home run to lead off the fourth against Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The ball landed on the roof of the right field bleachers and bounced over, just the seventh homer ever to exit Dodger Stadium entirely. The only other two that went out to right were both hit by Willie Stargell, in 1969 and 1973.
Philadelphia scored twice more in the fourth. Bryce Harper came home on an Alec Bohm single and throwing error from center fielder Andy Pages, and Bohm scored on a sacrifice fly from Brandon Marsh.
“I was just more focused on our guys there,” Schwarber said of his home run. “It could go in the first row, it could hit the freakin’ (scoreboard) right there. I don’t care. Hits are great, homers are great, walks are great, anything positive for our offense is going to be great. But, yeah, it was a cool moment.”
Schwarber opened the series 0-for-8 with five strikeouts before the home run.
Yamamoto (1-1) gave up three runs on six hits over four-plus innings. He struck out two and walked one.
The Dodgers turned to veteran left-hander Clayton Kershaw while trailing 3-1, and he wriggled out of trouble in the seventh inning before the Phillies unloaded for five runs in the eighth. Realmuto hit a leadoff homer and Schwarber added a two-run shot after a two-run single from Trea Turner.
Kershaw, who is set to retire following the playoffs after 18 seasons, allowed five runs (four earned) over two innings. He permitted six hits and three walks without fanning a batter.
“It was a tough couple of innings there,” Kershaw said. “… I just didn’t make enough good pitches. I was battling command. It’s hard when you’re trying to throw strikes as opposed to getting people out. It just wasn’t a fun (eighth) inning.”
Suarez settled down to allow the one run on five hits over five innings with four strikeouts and one walk.
Edman added an RBI single for the Dodgers in the ninth before Ohtani flied out to right field to end the game.
–Doug Padilla, Field Level Media
