Phillies Lose Series to Dodgers in Forgettable Rubber Match

The Phillies lost their second series in a row in a game where the pitching let the team down against one of the best offenses in baseball, losing 9-4, raising red flags for their viability in October.

The Phils will have to get over what has become the talk of the baseball world, the running blunder that ended Game 2 of the series to salvage a win in this series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With Aaron Nola on the mound, they would have to break the pattern to get a series win over the Dodgers.

The scoring didn’t take long to get started when Alec Bohm hit a long two-run home run to strike first. Dalton Rushing hit a solo home run in the third to get one run back. In the fifth, Rushing struck again and hit a two-run double, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. In a great moment, Bryan De La Cruz hit a solo home run to tie the game 3-3. The Dodgers widened the gap in the sixth on a two-run home run off the bat of Max Muncy to make the game 5-3. In the eighth, the Dodgers opened the floodgates, scoring four runs capped off by Tommy Edman‘s bases-clearing, three-run triple, making the game 9-3. Alec Bohm hit an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth and scored in the bottom of the ninth to make it interesting at 9-5, but that was how the game ended.

Nola Struggles With the Long Ball Again

The long ball has become the footnote of the season for Nola’s 2026 season. In his last four starts, he has a 4.00 ERA, which is a vast improvement, but the Phils have only scored five runs in those games, leading to them losing all four of those games. With the Dodgers’ powerful lineup, there was nearly zero room for error in this game.

For the first four innings, Nola pitched well, giving up a solo home run to Rushing on a pitch that wasn’t bad, but it was on a 4-seam fastball, and opponents are batting .370 against that pitch this season. This seemed like a small moment at the time, but it really set the tone. Nola did tighten it up, but later in the outing, after giving up a base hit to Freddie Freeman, he hung a changeup to Muncy. It looked as if Muncy was waiting on the changeup and went deep. Nola was charged with five runs in his 5-1/3 innings; this outing was his chance to make a statement. After this start, the only statement that was made is that the Phillies truly need to address the starting rotation at the deadline.

De La Cruz Comes in Swinging

De La Cruz was just recently called up to make his Phillies debut, adding a right-handed bat to the lineup to combat the problems that the Phils have had against lefty starters. With Eric Lauer on the mound for the Dodgers, a lefty pitcher whom the Phils have struggled against historically, bringing in De La Cruz was a suitable selection. He walked in his first at-bat and made several great defensive plays, and made them look easy.

But he really wrote his name in Phillies lore when he came up in the fifth; he got ahead of Lauer 2-1, and when Lauer tried to sneak a 90 MPH fastball by him, he was waiting for that moment since spring training. He swung and hit the ball deep into centerfield. It looked like Andy Pages had a read on the ball, but mistimed his jump, and it missed his glove. This was a huge moment at the time, because that swing tied up the game at three. It ultimately didn’t matter, but in the long battle of the season, this could be something that helps the Phillies long term if they can help address the right-handed bat in the outfield if they have another bat to help in a rotation there.

The Bullpen Couldn’t Stop the Bleeding

When Nola left the game, the Phils were still in striking distance at 5-3, but the eighth inning removed any thought that they had of a comeback, especially late in the game against the Dodgers bullpen, which is among the best in baseball.

The thing that is concerning is that the Phillies have been in too many one-run games for the bullpen to be as unreliable as it has been all season. The only arm in the bullpen that has been as close to automatic as they come has been Jhoan Duran, but getting the ball in his hands has been an adventure all season.

Bullpen pitching has been a bit of an issue across Major League Baseball all season, so for the Phillies to make any trades at the deadline, middle relief arms will be at a premium. If this were the only need for the Phillies at the mid-point of the season, that would be one thing, but there are glaring needs in the starting rotation. Since June 15, in starts where Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo pitch, the Phillies are 17-2. In that same timeframe, all others in the fourth and fifth spot in the rotation are a combined 1-12. This adds up to the fact that the Phillies need their bullpen to gel and find outs, because there are other massive holes that the Phils haven’t had to think about filling in a long time. The need is real, and it’s coming at the absolute worst time, when middle relief talent in baseball will be at a premium between now and the August 3 deadline.

The Phillies will have an off day between home series before welcoming the New York Yankees to town, giving them some time to put this series in their rearview mirror.

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