Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies

Tue Jul 218:00 PM ET
By JR·2 min read

TLDR: Los Angeles finally had an answer for Citizens Bank Park, grinding out a 2-1 win in a duel that played exactly like the ace showdown it was billed as.

FINAL · WED JUL 22, 12:00 AM
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Los Angeles Dodgers
  • Best record in the sport at 64-38, NL West lead
  • Wrobleski humming at 11-2 with a 2.62 ERA
  • Mookie Betts and Muncy both swinging it well
  • Lost 7 of previous 8 games in Philadelphia
  • Rotation gutted — Glasnow and Snell both out
  • Bullpen thin with Diaz, Treinen, Graterol all sidelined
Philadelphia Phillies
  • Wheeler's 2.16 ERA among the league's best
  • Turner, Harper and Marsh all going deep a night earlier
  • Historically owns the Dodgers at home
  • Offense went cold against Wrobleski, one RBI all night
  • Missing catcher Stubbs and multiple relief arms
  • Wheeler took the loss despite the elite ERA

First pitch went off at 8:00 PM ET with two of the National League's best arms on the mound. Wrobleski came in white-hot at 11-2 with a 2.62 ERA, fresh off a 7-inning, 9-strikeout outing against the Rockies, while Wheeler brought a 10-1 record and a minuscule 2.16 ERA into the night, still riding a shutout line and 10 strikeouts from his last time out against the Tigers.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Justin Wrobleski
(11-3)·3.31 ERA
Jul 7 vs Rockies
ND
7.0IP
1ER
9K
2BB
94P
07/21 Lineup
Philadelphia Phillies
Zack Wheeler
(10-2)·2.49 ERA
Jul 12 @ Tigers
W
6.0IP
0ER
10K
2BB
96P
07/21 Lineup

Both clubs are patching bullpens together on the fly. The Dodgers are already without Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell for the year's first half, plus setup arms like Brusdar Graterol and Blake Treinen, which puts extra weight on starters going deep. Philadelphia's missing a catcher in Garrett Stubbs and a couple of relievers in Brad Keller and Tanner Banks, so neither pen wanted this one turning into a slog. The market had shaded toward the Phillies pregame before drifting back the other way, with Los Angeles' price improving late.

The Phillies struck first when Bryce Harper ripped a double and Alec Bohm cashed him in with an RBI single in the first, and for a while that looked like it might be enough against Wrobleski. It wasn't. Max Muncy answered with a two-run homer in the fourth that stood as the difference, and from there it turned into a defensive clinic — Trea Turner made a sliding stop and a diving play up the middle, Andy Pages tracked down a running catch in the outfield, and Tanner Scott slammed the door in the ninth after Brandon Marsh grounded into a double play to end it.

This one also served as payback of sorts. The Dodgers had dropped 7 of their previous 8 games in Philadelphia and got run off the field 10-7 the night before, when Turner hit his 200th career homer and Harper and Marsh went deep too. Getting a hold-your-breath, low-scoring win out of the same building one night later says as much about the pitching as anything on the stat sheet.

07/21W@Phillies2-1
07/20L@Phillies7-10
07/19L@Yankees1-2
07/19W@Yankees8-2
07/19P@Yankees0-0
07/21LvsDodgers1-2
07/20WvsDodgers10-7
07/19LvsMets1-6
07/18WvsMets6-1
07/16LvsMets1-4

Los Angeles is still running the NL West at 64-38 and just showed it can win a game that isn't a slugfest, which matters against a Phillies club that can go both ways offensively. Philadelphia sits at 56-46 and now has to regroup for the series finale having dropped its best pitcher's start.

Muncy's swing was the headline, but this was really a night for complementary pieces — Bohm's single, Pages' glove, Turner's range, Scott's ninth. The kind of win that doesn't show up loud in a box score but says plenty about depth.

Dodgers 2, Phillies 1: Final Score & Odds Recap — Muncy's Fourth-Inning Bomb Beats Wheeler and Ends the Skid