Rob Thomson didn’t need to consult the schedule magnets that a sold-out crowd took home Sunday to give context to an April series with the defending World Series champions.
“There’s 52 series in the year,“ the Phillies manager said. ”If you win 28, 29, 30 series out of 52, you’re probably guaranteed to get in [the playoffs]. So, it’d be nice to get a series win. I don’t care who it’s against.”
OK, sure. But Thomson also conceded that maybe this did mean a smidge more. Nothing gets decided in April, but in pocketing two of three games from the Dodgers, including a back-and-forth 8-7 triumph in the rubber game, the Phillies made an early statement.
The pennant could just as easily go through Philly as L.A.
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That was the takeaway from a series finale that featured haymakers from both sides. A few highlights:
- Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow melted (down) in the rain.
- Nick Castellanos smashed grand slam.
- Embattled reliever Jordan Romano endured another concerning outing, with inconsistent velocity and erratic command.
- Shohei Ohtani struck out three times and finished the series 1-for-11 with five whiffs.
The Phillies fell behind 2-0, scored six runs in the third inning, went down 7-6, and rallied again in the seventh to tie it on Bryson Stott’s RBI single and take the lead on a fielder’s choice by Edmundo Sosa.
When Sosa hustled to first base to stay out of a potential inning-ending double play and enable Max Kepler to score the go-ahead run, he extended his arms to signal that he was safe, like a sprinter running through the tape at the finish line.
The Phillies have won seven of their first nine games and have a day off before opening a three-game series in Atlanta, where the 1-8 Braves were rained out Sunday.
The majority of Glasnow’s starts over the last 6½ seasons have come under the dome at Tropicana Field, where the threat of rain was nonexistent, or in Southern California, where it’s only slightly greater.
And when a cloud burst in the third inning, well, let’s just say it appeared he never witnessed such a phenomenon.
Staked to a 2-0 lead on the first of Teoscar Hernández’s two homers, Glasnow kept going to the rosin bag, wiping his right hand, and kicking at the mound to clean mud from his cleats amid a steady drizzle. Oh, and he ceased throwing strikes, walking the bases loaded on 17 pitches.
A Dodgers pitcher hadn’t come so unglued in South Philly since the Veterans Stadium boos engulfed Burt Hooton in 1977. (Google it, kids.)
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Bryce Harper halved the deficit by dropping a single into left field, and after Max Kepler walked to reload the bases, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hooked Glasnow.
Cue an elevated fastball from reliever Alex Vesia.
And Castellanos’ slam.
Romano inherited a 6-4 lead in the seventh inning, even though Thomson could’ve turned to righty Orion Kerkering instead. Romano gave up a leadoff single, walked Ohtani, and allowed an RBI double to Mookie Betts. His velocity sat at 93 mph, a few ticks down from normal.
And he walked off the field to boos.
The Dodgers took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Hernandez and a double off the top of the right field wall by Will Smith. But the Phillies came back against Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen to win the series.
Three winning series down. Forty-nine to go.
