Ohtani, Betts, and Tucker Went 0-for-13 and the Dodgers Still Dropped Nine.
The best team in baseball punched a first-place division rival in the mouth and Shohei Ohtani went hitless doing it.
The Dodgers beat the Phillies 9-5 in Philadelphia Wednesday night, and the way they did it should worry every contender in the National League.
Ohtani went 0-for-5. Mookie Betts went 0-for-4. Kyle Tucker went 0-for-4. The Dodgers scored nine runs anyway.
🔥 The middle of the order didn’t need the top
Tommy Edman went 3-for-4 with a triple and three RBI. Dalton Rushing added a home run, a double, and three RBI of his own. Freddie Freeman went 3-for-5 with two doubles and scored twice. Max Muncy homered for two more.
Los Angeles put up 11 hits, six for extra bases, and slugged .629 as a team with a 1.004 OPS on the night.
Because that’s the part that should scare people. A team that can drop nine on a first-place club while its three biggest names combine to go 0-for-13 isn’t running hot. It’s just deep.
📉 Nola got buried and the bullpen finished the job
Aaron Nola took the loss after 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits, five earned runs, and two home runs across 85 pitches. That pushed his ERA in this one to 8.44.
Then it got worse. The Phillies bullpen surrendered four more runs in the eighth. Orion Kerkering recorded two outs while giving up two earned on 22 pitches. Tim Mayza gave up two more across 1.1 innings.
Philadelphia actually led 2-0 after the first. They were outscored 9-3 the rest of the way.
Eric Lauer took the win with 5.1 innings, four hits, three earned, five strikeouts. Not dominant. Enough.
🧢 The Phillies bats went quiet at the worst time
Alec Bohm homered and drove in three. Bryan De La Cruz homered for another. That’s the entire offense.
Bryce Harper went 0-for-4 with a walk. Trea Turner went 0-for-5. J.T. Realmuto had one hit in one at-bat. The team hit .206 on the night with a .270 on-base and went 2-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Translation: they got their two swings and nothing else showed up.
📊 Where the standings sit now
The Dodgers are 65-38, the best record in baseball. Milwaukee sits right behind at 64-38 and leads the NL Central by seven over the Cubs.
The Phillies drop to 56-47, three games back of Atlanta in the NL East. The Braves are 59-42 after beating San Diego 7-6 Wednesday.
Over in the AL, Tampa Bay holds the East at 59-42 after taking down Toronto 4-2. The Yankees are 57-45 following a 2-0 shutout of Pittsburgh, which evened a day that started with a 5-3 loss in the opener.
The White Sox lead the AL Central at 54-47. Read that again if you need a second.
🗓️ What’s on deck
Thursday’s slate is short. Padres at Braves at 12:15 PM ET, Twins at Guardians at 1:10, Rays at Blue Jays at 3:07, Diamondbacks at Cardinals at 5:15, Royals at Tigers at 6:40.
The weekend is the real one. Yankees head to Philadelphia Friday at 6:45 PM ET, which puts a 57-45 club against a Phillies team that just got run over at home. Dodgers go to Citi Field to face a 43-60 Mets team that has nothing left to play for.
This is the stretch where the trade deadline starts writing itself. Philadelphia has an ace with an ERA problem and a bullpen that just gave up four in the eighth. Milwaukee has the second-best record in baseball and the smallest payroll conversation nobody wants to have.
Two months left. The Dodgers look like the answer and they didn’t even need their best hitters to prove it.
— The Bandicoots ⚾🔵💥