Edmundo Sosa’s two-run homer helps Phillies rally for a 4-3 win over the Dodgers
Sosa struck out in a base-loaded situation in the sixth inning while pinch-hitting for Brandon Marsh, but got his redemption two innings later to give the Phillies the lead for good.
LOS ANGELES — Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia needed four pitches to strike out Edmundo Sosa, and none of them were in the zone.
With the bases loaded and the Phillies trailing by one run in the sixth inning, interim manager Don Mattingly opted to pinch-hit for Brandon Marsh despite Sosa entering the game with a .239 average against lefties, compared to Marsh’s .268.
When Sosa chased three changeups well outside the strike zone, the decision looked like a critical error.
But in the eighth inning, Sosa got redemption. He pounced on a fastball from lefty Tanner Scott for a two-run home run, putting the Phillies in front for a 4-3 comeback win over the Dodgers on Saturday.
“I knew that was gonna happen,” Mattingly said jokingly.
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He said his reasoning for the initial decision came down to the matchup in that spot. After platooning for most of his career, Marsh played his way into an everyday role this season, and with regular opportunities, has vastly improved against lefties. Last season, he averaged .197 in 88 plate appearances against left-handers.
“He knew that was a spot thing,” Mattingly said. “ … We’re just trying to win a game somehow, some way. You make decisions along the way, sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. It didn’t actually work there, but it ended up working out. I think it speaks a lot about Brandon, that he just cared about winning, so I knew I didn’t have to worry about that.”
Marsh was the first player to embrace Sosa in the dugout after the sixth-inning strikeout, and again after the eighth-inning homer.
“Tonight just wasn’t my night, it was Sosa’s night,” Marsh said. “And that’s kind of just a testament to this to this team. It takes all of us sometimes.”
Until Sosa’s home run put the Phillies in front for good, the game was a back-and-forth affair. The Phillies’ only run against Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki came on a solo home run from Alec Bohm in the second inning. But the Dodgers punched right back, sandwiching two singles around a walk from Jesús Luzardo to tie the game at 1 in the bottom of the frame.
Los Angeles took the lead in the fourth inning. Alex Call doubled to right-center and Adolis García bobbled the ball, allowing him to advance to third and score on a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat.
“I felt like I made some good pitches, executed my plan pretty well,” said Luzardo, who held the Dodgers to two runs over 5⅓ innings. “Two walks, and then just kind of got beat by some weak contact throughout. I felt like, seven hits, look up there [at the scoreboard], it kind of [stinks], but when you see the quality of contact, it’s not terrible.”
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Sasaki touched 100 mph with his fastball twice, and racked up seven strikeouts while limiting the Phillies to three hits.
Two of those were back-to-back singles from Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner in the sixth inning, and Sasaki was then lifted for Vesia. He walked Bryce Harper to load the bases, but Sosa struck out and Bohm grounded out to end the threat.
Orion Kerkering pitched the seventh, marking his first time on the Dodger Stadium mound since his season-ending error in last year’s National League Division Series. He struck out Shohei Ohtani, but then gave up a double on an 0-2 count to Andy Pages, who hit the comebacker to him in the NLDS.
Pages then scored on a single from Mookie Betts to right field that gave the Dodgers an insurance run. It was a close play at the plate thanks to a strong throw from García, but after Mattingly challenged, the safe call was upheld on the reasoning that J.T. Realmuto had missed applying the tag.
However, Pages had also missed touching the plate on his slide. But since the Phillies did not appeal that right away, they were then unable to challenge that specific call.
“It was basically just a quick challenge right away. J.T. thought he got him, our guys thought he nicked him,” Mattingly said. “If we would have known he missed the plate, then we would have had to appeal it first, and that was what the discussion was about.”
Following a lengthy delay during the review, Kerkering rebounded by inducing an inning-ending groundout from Kyle Tucker.
“It was fun,” Kerkering said. “It was great to be back out there and just kind of get over the ending.”
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The Phillies’ offense responded in the eighth. Justin Crawford and Harper strung together singles in the eighth to score a run, bringing up Sosa.
Scott took him to an 0-2 count, and Sosa held off on a slider in the dirt before getting a pitch to hit. After he connected with the fastball, Sosa knew it was gone right away.
“I trusted my swing because I’ve been feeling really good lately,” Sosa said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello.
Brad Keller pitched a scoreless eighth and closer Jhoan Duran threw a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his 12th save of the season.
The Phillies are desperate for right-handed hitting. Mike Trout bats right-handed. But Trout also has full no-trade rights and has never asked the Angels to move him. Joe Maddon, Trout's manager for three years, joins "Phillies Extra" to answer the most important question: Why? And will this be the year that Trout asks out? Maddon also shares his thoughts on the Phillies' managerial change, Kyle Schwarber, Brandon Marsh, and more. Watch here.
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