Taking what they’re giving: Phillies 7, Dodgers 3

For the second time this series, the Los Angeles Dodgers chose to utilize a bullpen game against the Phillies. And for the second time this series, the Phillies took advantage. Facing seven different pitchers on Sunday afternoon, the Phillies recorded 13 hits en route to a 7-3 win, and a series victory.

Three consecutive singles in the first inning gave the Phillies their first run, and a two-run single by Bryson Stott extended the lead to 3-0 in the third.

The Dodgers hitters weren’t having the same level of success against Taijuan Walker who was effectively wild. He threw a lot of balls, but limited the Dodgers to two hits in five shutout innings. Sitting at only 83 pitches after five, Rob Thomson made a somewhat controversial decision to remove him.

The thinking is that Freddie Freeman had made solid contact against Walker in his previous at bat, but Walker’s frustration probably increased when Freeman greeted Gregory Soto with a leadoff home run.

The Phillies got that run back thanks to an RBI bunt single by Garrett Stubbs, but then the Dodgers answered with another solo home run, this time by Jayson Heyward.

When it was reported that a section of I-95 had collapsed, earlier in the day, many people figured that Nick Castellanos was in for a big day. In the bottom of the seventh, he proved them right.

Castellanos provided the team with a five-run cushion, which was helpful considering Jose Alvarado looked a little too much like his 2021 self in the eighth. Thanks to two walks and a double, he worked his way into a bit of trouble. The good news is that he also worked his way out of trouble, striking out J.D. Martinez and Chris Taylor to limit the damage to a single run.

In the ninth, Craig Kimbrel’s stuff once again looked nasty as he finished the Dodgers off with ease.

I won’t pretend this was the best version of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They’ve been surprisingly bad on the road and used two bullpen games in the series. I’m also not going to turn my nose up at a series win against a good team. For most of this season, the Phillies have allowed losses to turn into losing streaks, so it was nice to see them rebound from yesterday’s loss.

The Phillies will now travel to Arizona to take on one of the best teams in the league. They’ll be utilizing a bullpen game of their own on Monday, but if the rest of the team can play like they did today, unlike the Dodgers, they might still find a way to come out ahead.