LOS ANGELES — As part of the hype routine every time a Dodgers reliever trots in from the bullpen, they turn out the lights at Dodger Stadium.
Entering under the cover of darkness is probably best for that group these days.
The Philadelphia Phillies rallied for four runs in the seventh and eighth innings and another in the 10th, hanging another loss on the Dodgers’ unreliable bullpen and clinching the National League East title with a 6-5 victory over the Dodgers on Monday night.
With this loss, the Dodgers’ lead over the idle San Diego Padres shrank to two games in the NL West. The chasm between them and the Phillies for the second seed (and a first-round bye) in the NL playoffs is now 5½ games.
“It was a heavyweight fight, man,” Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said in the winning locker room. “It’s a really good team over there, obviously. They punch, we punch. They punch, we punch. I thought we played really good baseball.”
The Dodgers’ bullpen has shown a glass jaw for some time now. Eleven of the Dodgers’ past 18 losses have been charged to relievers and they are 6-14 in their past 20 games decided by one run.
“It’s a tough question,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said when asked about the ramifications of an unreliable bullpen in crucial games. “When you look at tonight, the home runs that were given up – (Kyle) Schwarber hit one with one finger on the bat basically. Harper hit one about seven inches above the zone. It’s really hard to criticize them for making those pitches. Just really good hitters found a way to handle them.
“It’s frustrating just from a team perspective but they’ve done a great job for us all year and they’re going to keep doing a great job.”
Muncy is being diplomatic. They very much have not done a great job all year. The Dodgers’ bullpen ERA is 4.20 (19th in the majors). They are 21st in batting average against (.246). The 75 home runs allowed by relievers is fourth-most in the majors. tied with one last-place team (the Baltimore Orioles) and behind three last-place teams (the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals and Angels).
With just two weeks left before the start of the postseason, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts essentially admits he doesn’t know who can be trusted.
“It’s just trying to see which guys step up with opportunities,” Roberts said. “I thought Tanner (Scott), for example, the last two outings have been very good. That’s really good to see. So, just trying to figure out who’s going to seize the opportunity. They’re going to continue to get opportunities and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Three Dodgers lefty relievers – none of them named Tanner Scott – pitched against a Phillies’ lineup devoid of right-handed hitters Trea Turner and Alec Bohm due to injury. All three – Anthony Banda (as the opener), Jack Dreyer in the seventh and Alex Vesia in the eighth – gave up home runs.
The Dodgers opted to start Banda as an opener for right-hander Emmet Sheehan. The idea was Banda could face the dangerous left-handed hitters at the top of the Phillies’ lineup, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, once and allow Sheehan to get deeper into the game before facing them too often.
It’s the kind of overthinking the Dodgers usually save for the postseason.
Banda struck out right-handed Harrison Bader to start the game but didn’t retire either lefty. Schwarber got a 2-and-2 slider on the outside edge of the strike zone and sent it 390 feet into right-field pavilion.
It was Schwarber’s 53rd home run of the season – the 22nd off a left-handed pitcher. According to Elias Sports, that ties Matt Olson (2021) and Stan Musial (1949) for the most by a left-handed hitter against left-handed pitchers.
Banda walked Harper and Sheehan made his belated arrival. He didn’t give up a hit until Otto Kemp led off the seventh inning with a double. Schwarber and Harper went 0 for 3 with three strikeouts and a walk against Sheehan.
“You know, you just don’t know,” Roberts said. “Obviously if I knew in hindsight, Schwarber was going to hit a homer – it still got us into the seventh inning. When Emmet came out of the game, we had a two-run lead. I felt we prevented runs up until that point.”
The Dodgers did absorb that Schwarbomb and built a 3-1 lead on the strength of a Muncy home run off of Phillies left-hander Ranger Suarez (further denting the left-on-left wisdom) and two sacrifice flies by Mookie Betts.
It all disappeared in the seventh inning. Dreyer replaced Sheehan after the leadoff double by Kemp. The rookie left-hander has been a bright spot in a cloudy bullpen. But he gave up an RBI single to Bryson Stott and a two-run home run to Weston Wilson, the last two hitters in the Phillies’ lineup.
“Jack had an off night, fell behind hitters and gave in to their (No.) 9 hitter,” Roberts said.
Betts answered back with a solo home run to tie the score, but Vesia came in to face Harper leading off the eighth. He got ahead in the count 1-and-2 and threw a fastball well above the strike zone. Harper drove it just over the wall in right field for a go-ahead home run.
“I still like the guys that we had on them,” Roberts said of the home runs to Schwarber and Harper that the left-on-left matchups were supposed to prevent. “I think we’re talking about guys that were rested, ready to go. I had the guys I wanted on them. That doesn’t always work out.”
The Phillies got their own taste of that in the ninth.
Jhoan Duran – one of the relievers the Dodgers pursued at the trade deadline to address their glaring weakness but didn’t land – came in to close it out for the Phillies. Capable of throwing 101 mph fastballs, Duran threw a curveball to Andy Pages. He crushed the gift, sending it 424 into the back of the Dodgers’ bullpen to tie the score. It was the first home run Duran had allowed since July.
“He’s one of the best closers in the game. All I could do was try to put a good swing on the ball. He made a mistake on that last pitch, and he paid for it,” Pages said through an interpreter.
“On that last pitch, definitely (surprised to get a curveball). But in that moment, you can’t leave a pitch there because you’ll get exactly what happened there.”
The Phillies cashed in their free runner in the 10th inning without a hit against Blake Treinen. Poor at controlling the running game, though, Treinen did give up a critical double steal that set up the go-ahead sacrifice fly by J.T. Realmuto.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 10th, but Miguel Rojas popped out and Muncy grounded out against veteran reliever David Robertson, who didn’t even sign a major-league contract this year until July 21.