| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | |
| Phillies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Dodgers | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
The Philadelphia Phillies ended a long road stretch with a victory at Chavez Ravine over the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday afternoon.
Finishing up a stretch in which the club played 16 of 19 games on the road, the Phillies defeated the host Los Angeles Dodgers by a 6-2 score on Wednesday afternoon at Chavez Ravine.
This game also marked a bit of history as well, as it was the final Phillies-Dodgers game to be broadcast by the retiring legendary Dodgers game-caller Vin Scully.
As was a signature in this three game series, the Dodgers jumped out on top first and early when Adrian Gonzalez doubled to bring home Josh Reddick in the bottom of the 1st inning of Phils’ starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson.
That would be all the home side could muster against Hellickson, who would last five official innings, allowing just the one earned run on three hits while striking out seven batters and walking one.
Hellickson was tossing a gem, but ended up being pulled early when a sore back began to bother him. He hopes to not miss his next turn in the rotation, which remains to be determined.
“...just kind of tightened up on me,” Hellickson said per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki. “I tried to talk into letting me go back out, but it’s probably a good thing he didn’t let me.”
“It’s definitely not something I think will linger more than a couple days,” Hellickson went on to say.
Over the final four frames the Phillies bullpen would allow just one run on five hits. Meanwhile, the Phillies offense was struggling to figure out Dodgers starting pitcher Scott Kazmir.
The lefty Kazmir (9-6) shut the Phils out over the first 6.1 innings. But with two on and one out in the top of the 7th, Phils shortstop Freddy Galvis drove a 2-2 offering out over the left field wall. His 11th home run of the season gave the Phillies their first lead at 3-1.
“I just tried to get a good at-bat,” Galvis said per MLB.com contributors. “I tried to put the ball in play. He was throwing everything away. He gave me a good pitch to hit. I put a good swing on it, and I hit a homer.”
Howie Kendrick doubled and was singled home by Rob Segedin in the bottom of the 7th against Edubray Ramos as the home side cut their deficit to a 3-2 margin.
But then the Phillies put the game away with another three-spot in the top of the 9th off LA closer Kenley Jansen.
Carlos Ruiz began the inning with a walk, and one out later ‘Chooch’ went to 3rd on an infield single by Odubel Herrera.
At that point, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts chose to have Jansen intentionally walk the hot Galvis, bringing up Ryan Howard with the bases loaded.
There was a time in the last decade when ‘The Big Piece’ would never face such disrespect, but things have reached that point in his career. Howard decided to play the hero, however, ruining the strategy by pulling a bases-clearing double down the right field line.
Jeanmar Gomez came on to record the final outs in the bottom of the 9th, and the Phillies were able to salvage the finale.
The Phillies went 3-3 on this short west coast swing, and 9-10 during this 19 game stretch. They also kept themselves from falling a dozen games below the .500 mark for the first time in nearly two months.
The club now returns home to Citizens Bank Park where they will open up a nine-game home stand on Friday night, beginning a stretch in which 15 of their next 20 will be played in South Philly.