The Los Angeles Dodgers began their longest road trip of the season by defeating out the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-1, and they have now won six games in a row. Included in that is back-to-back victories against the Phillies.
Julio Urías was among the Dodgers pitchers hit hard by Philadelphia during the series at Dodger Stadium last week, but he flipped the results on Friday night. He didn’t allow a baserunner until Roman Quinn’s single with two outs in the third inning.
Kyle Schwarber’s leadoff double in the fifth gave the Phillies their first runner in scoring position, and he reached third base, but was stranded. Despite his strong performance and only throwing 80 pitches, Urías’ night came to an end at five innings.
The outing still bested Ranger Suárez, who also had a reversal from his start last week in L.A. Suarez faces a bases-loaded jam with one out in the first inning when Freddie Freeman singled and Trea Turner and Will Smith both walked.
Suárez did hold the Dodgers to just one run on a Justin Turner groundout, but threw 34 pitches in the inning. That was a theme as the Dodgers made the left-hander work again in the second, which included Freeman delivering a two-run base hit with two outs.
Suárez was removed after two innings, which was a far cry from the seven frames he completed when last facing the Dodgers.
The Dodgers appeared prime to break game open in the fifth inning, only for Chris Taylor and Cody Bellinger to leave the bases loaded.
Dodgers bullpen shines
Beginning with Yency Almonte, the Dodgers’ bullpen turned in four innings to wrap up the win. Almonte went 1.1 innings and allowed a single, which led to Alex Vesia stranding an inherited runner in the seventh.
Evan Phillips, Phil Bickford and Craig Kimbrel combined for the final two innings. Phillips faced some trouble but stranded two runners when he got Alec Bohm to line out to right field.
Phil Bickford allowed a pair of two-out doubles in the ninth, which led to the Phillies scoring their lone run and Kimbrel being called on for the final out.
The bullpen’s performance was all the more imperative as the Dodgers’ offense largely went quiet after scoring in the second inning.
Freeman’s leadoff single in the ninth led to an insurance run as he stole second base and took third on an errant throw, then scored on Trea Turner’s sacrifice fly.
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