Phillies continue onslaught of Dodgers with four homers in 8-3 win at Dodger Stadium

LOS ANGELES — When the Phillies front office assembled this lineup, they expected them to hit. But it’s hard to imagine that they expected the players to hit the way they’ve been hitting over the past three games.

By the end of Saturday’s 8-3 win over the Dodgers, the Phillies had scored 29 runs. Their previous team record for most runs scored in Dodger Stadium over a three-game span was 26, set in June of 1976, when Gerald Ford was president, and gas cost 59 cents a gallon.

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Four of the Phillies’ nine hitters hit home runs on Saturday. Jean Segura, who has an 11-game hitting streak going, set the tone early with a three-run shot that narrowly fell inside the left field foul pole in the first inning. Not to be outdone, Bryce Harper followed up with a three-run home run of his own in the third inning, a moonshot that traveled 420 feet to right field.

An inning later, Kyle Schwarber hit a ball that almost traveled as far as Harper’s — 412 feet to center field — and three at-bats later, Rhys Hoskins hit a 381 foot shot that landed a little bit left of Schwarber’s.

Harper is now in a tie for first among the National League’s home run leaders, with nine. After going 3 for 4 on Saturday, he’s now batting .481/.531/.1.037 through his past seven games.

“He’s in a great spot,” said manager Joe Girardi. “It’s great to see. Obviously, he’s so important to our offense, but we’ve got other guys in good spots too, which is really helping out.”

Collectively, the Phillies knocked in ten hits and eight runs. With this win, they’re 17-17 and rank second in the NL East. The Phillies have now won five of their last six games, and will return to Philadelphia with two more series wins behind them.

“We’ve got to stay consistent, have good at-bats, and I thought we were able to do that tonight,” said Harper of his team’s performance. “I thought we were able to do that for the last couple of nights, as well. That’s a great Dodgers team over there, and that’s a great pitching staff over there, full of all-stars. As a team, I think collectively we’ve done a great job of coming in here and getting on guys early, battling the best we can, and jumping on stuff when we can.”

Their series win against the Mariners was impressive, but this series win against the Dodgers was somewhat extraordinary. It was only 10 days ago that the Phillies got swept by the Texas Rangers at home. On Saturday night, they won their third straight game against one of the best teams in baseball, in their home ballpark, in front of more than 50,000 rambunctious Dodgers fans.

Girardi said after the game that this has been one of the best offensive stretches he’s seen from any team he’s managed.

“You think about the staff we’ve done it against, too,” Girardi said. “I mean, this staff is really, really good. They were number one, I think, in ERA coming in. You look at the ERAs of their starters and they’re really good. Our guys have just put on a lot of good at-bats.”

Of course, the Phillies want the four-game sweep on Sunday, but even if they don’t get it, this road trip can be looked at as nothing short of an accomplishment. It could also be just the thing the Phillies need to finally build some momentum as they enter a six-game home stand.

Coming off of his best start of the season last week in Seattle, when he allowed only four hits and no runs over six innings pitched, Ranger Suárez didn’t look quite as sharp on Saturday night. He allowed a solo home run to Mookie Betts in the first inning, and a two-RBI double to Cody Bellinger in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Suárez was facing a much tougher lineup, and bounced back well.

After allowing three hits, three runs and a walk in the fourth inning, the left-handed pitcher didn’t allow a hit in innings five, six and seven. Given the heavy lifting the Phillies’ bullpen has done over the past few games, Suárez’s ability to bounce back and go deeper into the game was huge for them. By the end of the night, he’d allowed five hits, three earned runs, one home run and one walk over seven innings pitched, with six strikeouts.

“My goal was to go as deep in possible in the game, because I knew the bullpen had taken its toll over the past few games,” Suárez said through a translator. “I wanted to help out as much as possible.”

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After back-to-back nights in which the bullpen gave up seven earned runs, the Phillies’ relief corps had a refreshingly uneventful night on Saturday. The Dodgers didn’t record a hit past the fourth inning of Saturday’s game. Seranthony Domínguez allowed two walks in the eighth inning, but was able to get out of trouble when Justin Turner lined out to Alec Bohm to end the inning. Connor Brogdon took the ninth inning, and walked his first batter, but struck out his next three.

“That’s huge, because they’re a really good team,” Girardi said. “We walked a few guys, and gave them an opportunity, but Seranthony was able to wiggle out of that in the eighth and Brogdon walks the leadoff hitter and strikes out the side, which was so good for Connor, because that’s more of what he is. I think he might have even gotten to 97 mph tonight, and that’s so good to see.”