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After splitting the first two games, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies faced off in the series rubber match on Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
And for the second time this year, the Dodgers ended up taking the series from the Phillies. L.A. previously swept them at Dodger Stadium at the end of May, bringing their season record to 5-1 against last year’s National League Division Series opponent.
The Dodgers now have an off day on Thursday, when they are set to visit the White House in celebration of their 2025 World Series Championship before starting a series against the New York Mets on Friday.
Dodgers 9, Phillies 5: key takeaways
Max Muncy & Dalton Rushing carry Dodgers offense
Dalton Rushing and Max Muncy did most of the damage early, which included a historic home run from the third baseman, then it was Tommy Edman who broke the game open.
But first, it was Rushing who left the yard with a solo shot in the third inning that cut the Phillies’ lead in half. He then put the Dodgers ahead, 3-2, in the fifth inning with a double following consecutive singles from Teoscar Hernández and Edman.
With the game tied in the sixth, Muncy slugged a two-run home run after a double from Freddie Freeman, to give the Dodgers their 5-3 lead.
For Muncy, that was the 229th home run of his Dodgers career, which gave him sole possession of second place on the all-time L.A. franchise home run leaderboard. Muncy tied Ron Cey for second place on Tuesday night, and he now trails only Eric Karros, who hit 270 for L.A. in his career.
Duke Snider holds the Dodgers franchise record with 389, dating back to their Brooklyn days, while Gil Hodges is second with 361, and Karros comes in at third.
The Dodgers added on with a big eighth inning. Andy Pages started them off with a double, and then Freeman walked and Betts walked to load the bases.
Kyle Tucker drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and then a walk from Hernández loaded the bases again. Edman had the big hit of the inning as he drove in all three baserunners with a triple to give the Dodgers a four-run inning.
Eric Lauer a model of consistency
The story was the same for Eric Lauer as all his other starts. He allowed some early runs, then settled in to toss a quality start for the Dodgers.
The Phillies scored in the first when Kyle Schwarber singled and Alec Bohm homered to put them up 2-0. From there, Lauer retired 10 of the next 11 hitters before he allowed a leadoff home run in the fifth inning to Bryan De La Cruz that tied the game, 3-3.
That was followed by a double, but Lauer left him stranded by retiring the next three. He then went out to face Bryce Harper in the sixth inning, and Lauer struck him out for the third time to end his outing.
Lauer finished his outing going 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk. That marked his sixth consecutive quality start and seventh overall since joining the Dodgers.
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