Dodgers beat Phillies on inexplicable game-ending baserunning gaffe

PHILADELPHIA –– After a one-hour, 20-minute rain delay at the start of Tuesday night’s game at Citizens Bank Park, the Dodgers and Phillies played one inning in dry weather.

Then, the rain came back again.

So it went in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win, with sloppy conditions from the sky being mirrored by sloppy play on the field.

There were only 12 total hits. There were a pair of glaring baserunning blunders by the Dodgers that cost them a run in the third inning. And then, after the Dodgers took the lead on a two-run Max Muncy homer in the fourth, there was an even worse (and more stunning) gaffe from the Phillies on the bases to end the game.

With Tanner Scott attempting a five-out save, the Phillies were threatening to flip the game in the ninth.

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They got a leadoff single from Alec Bohm, who was then pinch-run for by Justin Crawford. They got a double from J.T. Realmuto, putting runners on second and third with one out.

Then, disaster struck.

With only Muncy playing in at third, Brandon Marsh hit a ground ball straight to him. Crawford tried breaking for home, but got caught in a rundown, eventually getting tagged out near third base after catcher Dalton Rushing threw the ball to shortstop Mookie Betts.

Even worse for the Phillies: Realmuto was caught in no-man’s-land too, having run from second to third, then inexplicably back again during Crawford’s pickle.

His slide back to second was too late, with an alert Betts quickly turned to fire a strike to second baseman Tommy Edman.

Just like that, a rain-soaked game came to an unbelievable finish –– with the Phillies somehow topping the baserunning mistake the Dodgers had made earlier in the game.

Back in the third, the Dodgers appeared to have erased a one-run deficit after a two-out double from backup catcher Eliezer Alfonzo and a line-drive base hit from Shohei Ohtani. 

However, Ohtani made an ill-advised decision to go for a double. Alfonzo jogged past third oblivious to his decision. And when Ohtani was tagged out at second (on a call initially ruled safe but overturned on a Phillies’ challenge) Alfonzo was still a half-step from actually stepping –– and, as it turned out, awkwardly slipping –– on home.

On a night of few chances, a potentially important run had been wiped off the board.

But in a game of steady rainfall and dominant pitching, bigger mistakes were still to come.

What it means

First and foremost, that the Dodgers won’t have to play a second doubleheader in the space of four days on this East Coast road trip.

Things seemed to be heading that way for most of the afternoon, with stormy forecasts and flash flood warnings threatening to postpone Tuesday’s game to Wednesday afternoon.

But then, a window in the weather opened. And the Dodgers –– who played a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on Sunday –– were happy to squeeze the contest in.

The win, which again gave the team the winningest record in the majors (64-38) after relinquishing it a day earlier, was an added bonus.

Who’s hot

Justin Wrobleski picked up where he left off in the first half of the season, coming out of the All-Star break with a 6 ⅓-inning, one-run gem.

As usual, he was efficient, needing only 89 pitches to rack up 19 outs (he could’ve gone longer, but manager Dave Roberts said pregame that the team has “got to be mindful of the workload” with Wrobleski as he compiled more innings than he ever has in his career).

In the continuation of a promising recent trend, he also got plenty of swing-and-miss, striking out seven batters while walking only one on a night his fastball was once again effective (getting seven whiffs on 22 swings).

After recording only 53 strikeouts over his first 86 ⅓ innings this year, Wrobleski has now amassed 27 over 20 ⅓ innings in his last three outings.

It’s been the latest development in his breakout season, helping him lower his ERA on Tuesday to 2.62 (fourth-best in the National League).

Who’s not

Ohtani’s base-running mistake was bad enough.

But more concerning has been his slow start offensively coming out of the All-Star break.

With a 1-for-4 performance on Tuesday, Ohtani now has just four hits in 21 at-bats over five games to begin the second half. Bad weeks happen, but Ohtani’s has come in the wake of a lubricant injection he received during the All-Star break to address a lingering left knee injury –– one that is currently preventing him from making pitching starts in the Dodgers’ rotation.

So did Roberts think Ohtani’s knee was starting to have an impact on his swing?

“I don’t think that’s the case,” he insisted pregame. “I would argue that if it was the right knee, potentially, because that’s kind of you’re turning on that knee, hitting off the front side. But with the left knee, I still see the intent there.”

Up next

With the threat of a doubleheader averted, a rubber-match game in this series now looms on Wednesday, when Eric Lauer (4-5, 4.81 ERA) will face Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola (3-7, 5.68).

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