LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers came into Sunday’s series finale with something to prove after watching a two-run lead evaporate in the eighth the night before. Yoshinobu Yamamoto made sure there was no drama this time. Los Angeles scored in seven of nine innings, collected 13 hits, and cruised to a 9-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium, taking the series two games to one and sending the homestand out on the right note.
The win was built on a complete performance from top to bottom. Yamamoto was dominant through five, the bullpen was clean, and the offense got contributions from all over the lineup. Alex Freeland hit two home runs. Ryan Ward went deep for the first time in his career. Max Muncy added a solo shot in the seventh. By the time Philadelphia put its only run on the board in the ninth, it was long decided. The Dodgers have now won 14 of their last 17 games.
Yamamoto Dominant in a Statement Start
Yamamoto set the tone from the jump. He worked five and a third innings, held Philadelphia to four hits and zero runs, struck out ten, and walked two. He was in command all afternoon, getting ahead in counts and finishing sequences efficiently against a Phillies lineup that had plenty of pop. Philadelphia managed a walk to Bryce Harper and a single to put runners on in the sixth, but Yamamoto had done his job. Will Klein came in and navigated out of the jam without allowing anything to score.
Edgardo Henriquez followed with a clean seventh, and Jonathan Hernandez closed out the final two frames. The only blemish on the staff came in the ninth when Bryson Stott sent a solo shot to center to make it 9-1, but Hernandez got the next two outs and the game was never in question. The Dodgers’ pitching staff combined for 12 strikeouts and held Philadelphia to five hits across nine innings.
Ward’s First Career Homer Gets the Party Started
The fourth inning was when the floodgates opened, and Ryan Ward provided the moment that started it. With Andrew Painter still on the mound, Ward launched a fly ball to right field for his first career home run, putting the Dodgers up 3-0 and giving Dodger Stadium a reason to get loud. It was a milestone for the 26-year-old outfielder, and it came at exactly the right time in a game the Dodgers were trying to pull away in.
Alex Freeland followed immediately with a solo shot of his own, his fourth of the season, making it back-to-back home runs in the span of two batters and chasing Painter from the game. Tanner Banks came on in relief, but the damage was done. Two swings, two runs, and the Phillies were suddenly staring at a 4-0 deficit before getting through the fourth.
Freeland Keeps Hitting, the Order Keeps Delivering
Freeland’s impact wasn’t limited to the fourth. He opened his day in the second inning with a sharp double to center that scored Max Muncy to make it 2-0, giving the Dodgers the lead before the home runs ever happened. He finished the afternoon 2-for-3 with a homer, a double, two RBIs, two runs scored, and a walk. For a player hitting .236 on the season, it was the kind of performance that resets how a lineup views him going into a road trip.
The rest of the order filled in around the big swings. Shohei Ohtani reached twice and went 2-for-5 at the top, keeping traffic moving. Kyle Tucker delivered an RBI single in the third to score Freddie Freeman and push the lead to 3-0 before Ward’s homer extended it further.
In the fifth, Alex Call entered as a pinch-hitter and singled to center to score both Mookie Betts and Tucker, making it 6-0 and effectively ending any Phillies hopes of a comeback. Freeman added a sacrifice fly in the sixth to score Andy Pages after Pages tripled on a pop-up to shallow right. Muncy’s 14th homer of the season in the seventh capped the scoring at eight before another Freeman sacrifice fly in the eighth made it 9-0.
Challenges and No Drama in the Ninth
The umpires stayed busy throughout the afternoon. The Dodgers overturned a strike call on Kyle Schwarber in the first inning. Philadelphia got Bryce Harper’s called third strike reversed in the same half-inning. Dalton Rushing also won a challenge in the bottom of the first. All three challenges went the way of the team that threw the flag, and none of them changed the final outcome, but they set an early tone that the strike zone was going to be contested.
The ninth was the only inning that required any cleanup. A throwing error by Freeland put Justin Crawford on, and Stott followed with the solo homer to put Philadelphia on the board. It was the kind of cosmetic damage that happens when a game is already decided. Schwarber grounded out to end it, Hernandez had his second inning of work wrapped up cleanly, and the Dodgers walked off having answered their Game 2 loss with the most complete game of the series.
Up Next
The Dodgers head to Arizona to open a four-game series on Monday. Emmet Sheehan takes the mound against Eduardo Rodriguez at 6:40 p.m. PST.
