LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers could do no wrong on this homestand.
Down five runs in the third inning, they came back to take the lead in the eighth inning and again in the ninth, finally winning on a walk-off grand slam by Max Muncy to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 10-6, on Wednesday afternoon.
The ninth-inning rally was an act the Dodgers had seen before – it featured Craig Kimbrel (now with the Phillies) in a prominent role.
The comeback extended the Dodgers’ winning streak to six games, three each over the Cardinals and Phillies on this homestand. The Dodgers outscored those two teams 50-17.
They bludgeoned the Phillies for 13 runs in each of the first two games in this series. They needed a shovel to dig out of a 5-0 hole Wednesday as Gavin Stone’s major-league debut was less than inspiring.
The 24-year-old Stone emerged with his potential still intact but otherwise took his lumps, allowing five runs on eight hits in four innings against the Phillies.
The split-change that figures so prominently in any scouting report on Stone was largely ignored by the Phillies. He got just two swings-and-misses on it. Stone has averaged 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings in the minor leagues but didn’t get his first major-league strikeout until the fourth inning Wednesday. Nick Castellanos tipped an 0-and-2 slider back into catcher Will Smith’s glove for Stone’s first and only strikeout in his debut.
If the Dodgers’ offense eventually made up for Stone’s struggles, the defense behind Stone did him few favors.
Trea Turner’s bloop dropped in shallow right field for a one-out double in the first inning. After walking Bryce Harper, Stone got Castellanos to bounce a ready-made double-play grounder to Muncy at third base. But it bounced out of Muncy’s glove for an error, loading the bases with one out instead of ending a scoreless first inning. Bryson Stott drove the unearned run in with a sacrifice fly.
Bigger trouble awaited Stone in the third inning. The Phillies batted around, scoring four times on six hits.
Two of those hits never left the infield. With two runs already in and two outs, Brandon Marsh bounced a ground ball that shortstop Chris Taylor fielded up the middle. Instead of going to second for a forceout, Taylor threw to first base. Marsh beat it out for a single and the inning continued.
Sosa drove in another run with a single and Garrett Stubbs dropped an uncontested bunt single down the third base line to drive in another run before Stone could escape.
The Dodgers’ bullpen followed Stone with four scoreless innings, holding the line while the Dodgers came back from a 5-0 deficit in the third inning.
Mookie Betts drove in one run with an RBI single in the third. James Outman doubled and scored on Miguel Vargas’ two-run home run in the fourth.
The Dodgers made it a one-run game in the seventh when Castellanos turned Taylor’s slicing drive into a triple and Freddie Freeman drove him in with a sacrifice fly.
In the eighth, a single by Miguel Rojas and another double by Outman put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position with one out. With the infield in, Vargas bounced a grounder to Turner who threw Rojas out at home.
With Trayce Thompson ill, Roberts’ only right-handed pinch-hit option to replace the left-handed David Peralta was the .085-hitting Austin Barnes. Barnes hit a sinking line drive at 89.4 mph off the bat just to Sosa’s left. Sosa stabbed at the ball but came up empty.
The Dodgers were one out away from closing out the win, but Bryce Harper reached base for the fifth time in the game on a two-out single off Brusdar Graterol. Graterol then walked Castellanos and gave up a game-tying RBI single to Stott.
In the bottom of the ninth, though, Kimbrel gave up a leadoff single to Taylor, intentionally walked Freeman after Taylor stole second then walked Smith to load the bases. Muncy jumped the first pitch he saw from Kimbrel, a fastball over the outer half of the plate, and lined it into the right field seats for his 12th home run of the season.
More to come on this story.
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