PHILADELPHIA (AP) Blake Snell allowed one hit in six shutout innings, striking out nine, and the Los Angeles Dodgers barely turned back Philadelphiaâ€s late rally Monday night for a 4-3 victory over the Phillies in Game 2 of their NL Division Series.
Freddie Freeman made a game-saving defensive play at first base and Shohei Ohtani delivered an RBI single that helped the Dodgers take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five playoff. The defending World Series champs can reach their 17th National League Championship Series with a Game 3 win Wednesday in Los Angeles.
Will Smith had a two-run single in a four-run seventh, and the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
Thatâ€s when the Phillies finally mounted a major threat.
Nick Castellanos slid headfirst into second base, narrowly eluding a tag, for a two-run double off Blake Treinen that at last sent the Philadelphia crowd into a frenzy and made it a 4-3 game.
Alex Vesia came in to face Bryson Stott, who tried to advance Castellanos with a bunt. But third baseman Max Muncy wheeled and threw to shortstop Mookie Betts sprinting over to cover the bag in time to get Castellanos.
Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader singled and Max Kepler grounded into a fielderâ€s choice that left runners at the corners with two outs.
Roki Sasaki entered and retired NL batting champion Trea Turner on a groundout to second for the rookieâ€s second career save – both in this series. Freeman went to his knees to pick Tommy Edmanâ€s poor throw on his backhand, keeping his right toe on the bag before rolling over onto his back with the ball.
Kepler tripled in the eighth and scored on Turnerâ€s single to trim it to 4-1.
A two-time Cy Young Award winner, Snell was sensational in holding the Phillies to another mostly punchless effort in the playoffs. Turner, NL home run champion Kyle Schwarber and two-time NL MVP Bryce Harper went a combined 1 for 10 with five strikeouts.
On the 15-year anniversary of Phillies ace Roy Halladayâ€s playoff no-hitter against the Reds, Snell had one going until Edmundo Sosaâ€s two-out single in the fifth.
Snell, who walked four and threw 99 pitches, was tangled in a duel with Jesús Luzardo until the seventh.
Luzardo threw 24 pitches in the first before the left-hander settled down and retired 17 straight Dodgers until Game 1 star Teoscar Hernández singled leading off the inning. Freeman doubled and that was all for Luzardo.
After reliever Orion Kerkering got a strikeout, Kiké Hernández hit a slow roller to shortstop and Turner rushed an off-target throw home that allowed Teoscar Hernández to score. Smith lined a two-run single for a 3-0 lead and Ohtani – who struck out four times in the opener and again leading off Game 2 – ripped a run-scoring single off left-handed reliever Matt Strahm for his first hit of the series.
The Dodgers, who used the injured list this season 37 times for 2,585 days, according to Major League Baseball, are finally mostly healthy and need to win just once in two home games to clinch the series. Teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have won 80 of 90 times, including 54 sweeps.
The NL East champion Phillies were used to flailing at Snell.
Snell, who missed four months of his first season in Los Angeles with shoulder inflammation, struck out a season-high 12 over seven innings in a September start against the Phillies. Philadelphia players in the Game 2 starting lineup who had faced Snell hit only a combined .152 lifetime against him coming in.
Snell worked out of his only jam in the sixth, when he issued consecutive one-out walks to finally get a rise out of more than 45,000 fans who had been nervously subdued most of the game. Snell got Harper, the NLDS career home run leader with 11, to swing hard on strike three, and Alec Bohm ended the threat with a chopper to third that snuffed the energy out of the ballpark.
The slumping Phillies were 1 for 18 with nine strikeouts through six.
The Dodgers send RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound in Game 3. Yamamoto struck out a postseason-high nine while pitching into the seventh inning in the Wild Card Series clincher against Cincinnati. Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies.
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