Philadelphia had chances to make it a non-issue. They'd already shown they could hang 10 runs on this Dodgers team just two days earlier, and Bryce Harper's lineup doesn't need much to turn a rubber match. But the Phillies have been streaky all month — losers in three of their last five walking in — and they got squeezed by their own bullpen down the stretch instead of LA's.
The Dodgers turned it into a laugher late. After trading small leads and lead changes through seven, LA broke it open with a four-run eighth that turned a tight game into a comfortable win, and the bullpen slammed the door from there. It was the kind of finish that validates the -1.5 number this team's record has been asking for even while the pitching staff patches itself together on the fly.
This one also closes out a series that swung on the margins — a Justin Crawford rundown gone wrong for Philly the night before, a four-run frame for LA the night after. Take the whole three games together and it's a fair encapsulation of where these two teams sit: the Dodgers with the sport's best record and a beat-up staff that keeps finding ways to win anyway, the Phillies dangerous enough to blow a game open but too inconsistent lately to close one out.