Cristopher Sánchez deals in Phillies’ important win over Dodgers

As the struggling Phillies took the field for a fairly consequential matchup against the Dodgers in a battle between the top clubs in the National League, the team was in need of someone to step up. First-time All-Star Cristopher Sánchez answered the bell on Tuesday night as he took control on the mound in Hollywood.

The left-hander Sánchez threw six innings of one-run ball in a 6-2 win at Dodger Stadium to maintain Philadelphia’s status as the best team in the NL. Edmundo Sosa led the way for the Phillies offense as he went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs.

With their fourth win of the year against the Dodgers, the Phillies (67-46) clinched the tiebreaker for potential seeding and home-field situations over Los Angeles (66-48) in the postseason if the teams were to finish with the same record.

After splitting the first two games of this series, Philadelphia will have the chance to earn its first series win since it completed a three-game home sweep of the Dodgers on July 11 in Wednesday’s finale.

Sánchez outdueled perhaps the greatest lefty in recent baseball history in Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, who made his third start of the season. The 36-year-old Kershaw had a solid outing as he allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings.

After the Phillies stranded runners on the corners in the top of the fourth inning, leadoff man Kyle Schwarber delivered the opening run of the game in the fifth with an RBI blooper into center field to knock Kershaw out of the game.

The Phillies added three more runs in the sixth inning as right-hander Brent Honeywell replaced the injured Brusdar Graterol for Los Angeles. Nick Castellanos drove home a run with a single, while Sosa plated two more with an opposite-field hit with the bases loaded to bring the Phillies’ lead to 4-0. Honeywell stayed in the game for the last 3 2/3 innings, allowing two more Philadelphia insurance runs in the top of the ninth on back-to-back homers by Sosa and Schwarber.

Sánchez pitched into the seventh before allowing two Dodgers to reach base, and left-hander Matt Strahm entered to clean up the inning. He got slugger Shohei Ohtani to fly out to right to end the inning.

Jeff Hoffman threw the eighth, allowing a homer to center by Teoscar Hernández. But newcomer Carlos Estévez handled the ninth with a scoreless frame to complete the victory.

Highlights

• Schwarber put the Phillies on top first.

• The second of back-to-back jacks.

Notes

• Alec Bohm extended his on-base streak to 24 games with his sixth-inning single; it’s the longest active streak in the majors.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Wednesday, Aug. 7 vs. Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
• 10:10 p.m. Eastern
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia and MLB Network (out-of-market only)
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
• Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680

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