Phillies’ Batters Struggle Once Again as Dodgers Blast their Way to Victory with Four Solo Bombs
May 29, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) throws against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images
The Dodgers still have the Phillies’ number.
Making their return to the City of Angels for the first time since their NLDS loss last postseason, the Phillies struggled to get any consistent at-bats going, losing the opener of their three-game series with the Dodgers 4-2.
Solo home runs were the story of the game as Los Angeles blasted, not one, not two, not three, but four of them off of Zack Wheeler, who up to that point had only allowed one home run all season. Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Will Smith, and, of course, Shohei Ohtani were the four home run recipients.
The Phillies, meanwhile, couldn’t buy a hit for the majority of the night, going 5.2 innings without a base knock, totaling just three on the night. Dating back to their Game 4 loss in the NLDS to the Dodgers, the Phillies went nearly 10 straight innings without recording a hit at Dodger Stadium.
Kyle Schwarber smacked his 22nd bomb of the year, but the Phillies only collected two other hits and struck out 11 times in their series-opening loss.
Justin Wrobleski got the start on the mound for the Dodgers, going against a very lefty-heavy Phillies lineup, and he made the three Phillies stars look silly to open up the game. Wrobleski struck Kyle Schwaber out on four pitches, and Trea Turner and Bryce Harper with five, striking out the side to open up the top of the first.
While the Dodgers had one of their stars strike out to open their first innings of at-bats, Wheeler did something out of the ordinary, allowing a first-inning run and, more specifically, a first-inning home run. With two outs, Freeman basted a ball down the left field line, just clearing the short wall in the corner for a solo shot, making it 1-0 Dodgers.
The solo bombs didn’t stop there, as one inning later, Muncy dug into the box and smoked a 2-0 heater to right center field, doubling the Dodgers’ lead. Another inning later, Shohei Ohtani did nearly the same thing, smoking a 1-0 fastball deep into the Phillies’ bullpen to make it 3-0 Los Angeles.
The Phillies offense continued to struggle throughout the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings, going down in order in each of those frames with Wroblesksi striking out the side, passing his previous career-high of seven strikeouts.
In the bottom of the fifth, up three runs already, the Dodgers decided to make it a four-solo-home-run night with Smith joining in on the fun with his sixth bomb of the year to make it 4-0 Dodgers. The Smith homer marked just the second time in Zack Wheeler’s career that he allowed four home runs or more in a game, the other coming back in 2024 against the Orioles.
Wheeler was able to work around the four solo bombs on the night, allowing just one other hit, a single to center from Othani, to get to the sixth inning. Still without a hit with two outs in the top of the sixth, Schwarber finally ended the hitless drought, smoking a solo bomb of his own to center field for his league-leading 22nd home run of the year.
One run was all the Phillies could muster in the sixth, and both teams went down in order in the seventh, keeping it a three-run game heading into the eighth inning. Still with just one hit on the night, Brandon Marsh finally recorded the first non-home run hit of the game with a one-out double to center. Two batters later, the newest member of the Phillies, Steward Berroa, clubbed a single back up the middle for his first hit and RBI with the Phillies, cutting the deficit to two.
However, with Schwarber up with a chance to tie the game, the Dodgers brought in lefty Alex Vesia to face the Schwarbarian, and Vesia won the battle, striking Schwarber out to end the eighth inning. Ohtani added a third hit in the eighth, but the Dodgers couldn’t bring him in for insurance.
In the ninth, Tanner Scott got the call to close out the game and made quick work of the Phillies’ 2-3-4 hitters. Turner flew out right on a weak fly ball, Harper struck out for the third time on the night, and Alec Bohm lined one out to Kyle Tucker in right, ending the game at just over two hours, with the Phillies losing 4-2.
Matt Brown
Matt has been a Philadelphia sports fan all his life and spent four years at Penn State University majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in Sports Studies. He previously covered Penn State’s field hockey, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball teams while writing for a Penn State blog called Onward State. He has now covered the Phillies, Eagles, and Sixers for Philly Sports Reports since October 2024 and wants to pursue a career in Sports Journalism.
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