Long time coming
It takes 6 hours 35 minutes for the Dodgers to secure a victory after a nearly 2 1 ⁄2-hour rain delay.
DODGERS 7 PHILADELPHIA 2
PHILADELPHIA — The final out at Citizens Bank Park was secured at 1:42 a.m. EDT Thursday, finally bringing to conclusion a game that began 6 hours 35 minutes earlier, and netted the Dodgers another victory.
After nine hits, two errors, three replay reviews, 10 pitching changes, 16 walks, 23 strikeouts, 366 pitches, and a 2-hour 37-minute rain delay, the Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2, adding an extended third chapter to a loopy four-game series that will conclude with a matinee Thursday. First pitch is scheduled for 12:30 p.m local time. The baseball schedule can be cruel.
David Freese provided a goahead, two-run home run in the seventh inning immediately after the Phillies offense showed its only signs of life. Justin Turner, pinchhitting, supplied a two-run home run in the eighth for insurance just before 1 a.m.
Six Dodgers pitchers, starting
with Kenta Maeda’s two scoreless innings, held the Phillies to two hits. Two Phillies also reached base on six walks and two errors by third baseman Max Muncy.
Menacing clouds could be seen drifting over from behind the video board overlooking left field in the second inning. In a flash, rain poured and wind whipped at once, blowing trash onto the field and impelling a rapid response from the grounds crew. The game was paused at 8 p.m. in the top of the third inning with one out and a runner at first base.
Twenty minutes into the delay, a shirtless man stormed the field and used the tarp as a gigantic water slide. Three security guards in blue ponchos raced out to capture him. It took a circuitous route but they eventually chased him down. The man walked off to cheers from fans lined under shelter.
On-field activity ceased from there until the grounds crew emerged to remove the tarp at 10:25 p.m. A few minutes later, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts reappeared in the visiting dugout with a cup of coffee. The game resumed at 10:37 p.m. when J.D. Hammer, a bespectacled right-hander who relieved Nick Pivetta, fired a high fastball to David Freese.
The Dodgers replaced Maeda with Casey Sadler. He faced three batters. He retired the first two and walked the third. With Bryce Harper coming up, Roberts elected to insert the lefthanded Julio Urias. A battle ensued but it was left incomplete after Scott Kingery was thrown out attempting to steal second base.
Los Angeles had netted a run in the first inning, before the weather stopped cooperating, without a hit. Pivetta issued three straight one-out walks to load the bases and A.J. Pollock drove a fly ball far enough to drive in Muncy. They doubled the lead in the sixth inning on Urias’ two-out single up the middle.
On the mound, Urias was keeping a bizarre no-hitter intact. The Phillies had four runners reach base but no hits against Maeda, Sadler and Urias. Three reached on walks and one on an error. A fifth — Cesar Hernandez — reached to lead off the sixth inning on Muncy’s second error of the game. The nohitter finally died when Kingery followed with a bloop single to shallow rightcenter field. Philadelphia’s only other hit was a single by Adam Haseley in the ninth inning.
After Harper flied out and Kingery advanced to second base on a passed ball, Roberts chose to intentionally walk Rhys Hoskins to bring up Brad Miller, a left-handed hitter, with the bases loaded and one out. Urias walked him with his 61st pitch, after a sevenpitch clash, and the score was tied.
That ended Urias’ outing. Pedro Baez was summoned. The right-hander gave up a run-scoring grounder, tying the score 2-2, before striking out Nick Williams to escape.
The tie was short-lived. Muncy led off the seventh with a single and Freese hit a two-run home run to the opposite field against righthander Juan Nicasio.
Turner soon matched Freese, ensuring the Dodgers at least a series split after a long night.