The Los Angeles Dodgers are one win away from another trip to the National League Championship Series, thanks to Blake Snell’s brilliance, a resilient bullpen, and a few clutch defensive gems that sealed a tense 4–3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 2 of the NL Division Series on Monday night.
Snell, the two-time Cy Young Award winner, was dominant through six shutout innings, striking out nine and allowing just one hit before handing the game to the Dodgers’ bullpen. His poise and precision silenced a normally raucous Citizens Bank Park crowd, which stayed quiet until a furious Phillies rally in the ninth inning nearly flipped the script.
“I trust these guys completely,” Snell said. “You know there’s always going to be a storm late in the game here, but we’re built for that. The defense and bullpen came up huge.”
The Dodgers led 4–1 entering the bottom of the ninth after Will Smith’s two-run single and Shohei Ohtani’s long-awaited RBI base hit in the seventh broke the game open. Freddie Freeman also doubled in that frame, and Kiké Hernández’s slow roller forced a rushed throw home by Trea Turner, allowing Teoscar Hernández to score on an acrobatic slide.
But the Phillies, lifeless most of the night, finally roared to life against reliever Blake Treinen. Nick Castellanos ripped a two-run double that sent the 45,000-plus fans into a frenzy, diving headfirst into second base to narrowly beat Mookie Betts’ tag and cutting the deficit to 4–3.
With the tying run in scoring position, the Dodgers turned to Alex Vesia, who got Bryson Stott to bunt. Third baseman Max Muncy charged and fired to Betts — sprinting to cover second — in time to tag out Castellanos.
Then came another moment of drama: pinch-hitter Harrison Bader singled, and Max Kepler grounded into a fielder’s choice, leaving runners at the corners with two outs. Rookie phenom Roki Sasaki, pitching with nerves of steel, got NL batting champ Trea Turner to ground out to second for his second career save — both coming in this series. Freeman made a spectacular backhand pick of Tommy Edman’s errant throw, staying on the bag before rolling over with the ball secured to end it.
“That’s what championship baseball looks like,” Freeman said. “Everybody contributes. Every pitch, every play mattered.”
The Phillies’ All-Star trio of Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Bryce Harper combined to go 1-for-10 with five strikeouts, continuing a frustrating postseason for the NL East champions. On the 15-year anniversary of Roy Halladay’s postseason no-hitter, Snell flirted with one of his own before Edmundo Sosa’s two-out single in the fifth broke it up.
Philadelphia starter Jesús Luzardo was nearly as sharp early, retiring 17 straight Dodgers after a shaky first inning before running into trouble in the seventh. He left after Freeman’s double, and the bullpen couldn’t hold up.
Max Kepler provided a brief spark with a triple in the eighth and scored on Turner’s single to make it 4–1, but it wasn’t enough. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said he plans to address his team before the series shifts to Los Angeles.
“We’ve been here before,” Thomson said. “We just have to regroup, flush it, and go win one on the road.”
The Dodgers, who used the injured list 37 times this season for a total of 2,585 days, according to MLB, are finally healthy — and it shows. They can clinch their 17th NLCS berth with a win in Game 3.
Teams that take a 2–0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have won 80 of 90 times, including 54 sweeps.
Game 3 is set for Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles will send right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who struck out nine in the Wild Card Series clincher against Cincinnati, to the mound. The Phillies will counter with Aaron Nola as they fight to stay alive.
