PHILADELPHIA _ The Los Angeles Dodgers' merciless and methodical one-inning destruction Monday of the Philadelphia Phillies, a club that appeared poised to contend with them for National League supremacy for a fleeting period before the calendar turned to summer, began with a single off Alex Verdugo's bat. It ended, after six Dodgers runs and a few Phillies breakdowns, with boos filling Citizens Bank Park when the home team initially didn't realize it had finally secured three outs.
It was a thorough thrashing. It was unrelenting and humiliating. It was just the fourth inning, but the game was decided then and there. Yet the Dodgers did not stop on their way to a 16-2 win.
Cody Bellinger tacked on two solo home runs to jump atop baseball's leaderboard with 33. Max Muncy went back-to-back with Bellinger in the seventh inning for his 24th homer. The Dodgers added five runs in the eighth inning, which featured right-hander Yacksel Rios getting ejected for plunking Justin Turner with a slider after giving up a two-run home run to Verdugo. It ended with Roman Quinn, an outfielder, on the mound.
All eight starting position players recorded a hit, tallied an RBI and scored a run for the Dodgers. The barrage was more than enough for Clayton Kershaw (8-2), who rebounded after a rocky beginning to limit the Phillies to one run across six innings. He has logged at least six innings in each of his 16 starts this season and a quality outing in 13 of them.
The Dodgers (63-33) checked into their hotel in Philadelphia at 4:30 a.m. Monday, hours late after needing 5 hours 40 minutes to beat the Boston Red Sox in 12 innings Sunday night into Monday morning. Players were encouraged to sleep in. Batting practice was canceled. The circumstances were not ideal, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts insisted his club would not succumb to them.
"We were in a grind of a series, we got in late last night, (and) it will have no effect on how we come out and play tonight as far as our energy and focus," Roberts said. "And that's a credit to our guys in the clubhouse."
For three innings, the Dodgers played like a weary bunch. Their only baserunner was Kershaw, who reached on an error, and Zach Eflin was through the three innings on 40 pitches. On the other side, Kershaw, who flew to Philadelphia ahead of the team Sunday, entered the night leading the majors in fewest pitches per inning (14.6) but labored through three innings.
He allowed a single, issued two walks and threw two wild pitches before wiggling out of a bases-loaded jam in the first. After a clean second inning, Scott Kingery whacked a fastball over the plate for a leadoff home run in the third. The Phillies would load the bases again in the inning on Bryce Harper's double, Austin Barnes' catcher's interference and an error by Corey Seager. But Kershaw escaped without surrendering another run on his 61st pitch.
He would throw 40 pitches over the next three innings. He exited with 101 and an eight-run lead fueled by the Dodgers' fourth-inning blitz against Eflin (7-9).
Turner doubled Verdugo home to put the Dodgers on the board. Two batters later, Muncy hit a slow dribbler to third baseman Maikel Franco. He charged it and tried making a barehanded play. He failed and Turner scored. Seager walked and Enrique Hernandez delivered an RBI single.
Another Phillies gaffe followed. The Dodgers called on Barnes, mired in a monthlong slump, to execute a safety squeeze. Barnes succeeded, laying a bunt down to Eflin. It was a routine play, but the Phillies (48-46) left first base uncovered. Barnes reached as Seager scored the Dodgers' fourth run.
Philadelphia's misfortune continued when Joc Pederson smacked a 107-mph groundball to Eflin that bounced off the pitcher's glove. Pederson was credited with a single, and Hernandez scored.
To finish off the demolition, the Dodgers dusted off a Little League special. With runners on the corners and Verdugo in the batter's box for the second time in the inning, Pederson dashed for second base, but not to steal it. He braked halfway down the line, just far enough to induce a throw from catcher J.T. Realmuto, which prompted Barnes to race home from third base. He beat second baseman Jean Segura's throw home to complete the trickery and give Los Angeles a five-run edge.
Jeers rained within moments as the Phillies, after a delay, trotted off the field. More Dodgers runs would follow as the crowd thinned out, ceding the turf to a boisterous section of Dodgers fans in the second deck overlooking the right-field wall. The visitors dominated in every which way.
