PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Another big game by Rhys Hoskins meant another long night for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Hoskins had four RBIs, including a tiebreaking, three-run double off Pedro Baez in the seventh inning that led the Phillies over Los Angeles 6-2 on Tuesday.
Los Angeles’ magic number to clinch its fifth straight NL West title dropped to two when Arizona lost to the Padres. The Dodgers, who have dropped three consecutive games and 19 of 24, can wrap up the division crown Wednesday night with a victory in Philadelphia and a Diamondbacks loss at San Diego.
“They’ve got a lot of speedy guys. They put the bat on the ball. They’ve got some power,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about the Phillies. “They play hard, and teams that have nothing to play for but are trying to establish themselves, those are dangerous teams.”
Philadelphia has won seven of 10 and needs three victories to avoid a 100-loss season.
“Experience-wise, for some of us young guys, this is pretty invaluable,” said Hoskins, who has 43 RBIs in 39 games since his Aug. 10 promotion from Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Hoskins saw 30 pitches in going 2 for 3 with a walk. He chased Yu Darvish with a sixth-inning RBI single that cut Philadelphia’s deficit to 2-1, then doubled to the left-center gap on the 10th pitch of his at-bat against Baez (3-6) for a 5-2 lead.
“The longer I’m in there, the more pitches I see, the more comfortable I started to feel,” Hoskins said. “I’m kind of able to hone in on the timing, which is pretty important for me. The more you see it the more you know what it looks like the more comfortable you get.”
Aaron Altherr added an eighth-inning homer off Brock Stewart.
Aaron Nola (12-10) allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings while striking out eight.
“I harped earlier in the season about not getting innings from the starters,” Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. “He gave us those innings and allowed us to use the bullpen the way I want to use it.”
Yasmani Grandal hit his 20th homer in the third and Curtis Granderson had an RBI double in the fourth.
Darvish allowed no earned runs for the second straight start, giving up one run and four hits in 5 1/3 innings.
STAT PACK
Darvish got his 200th strikeout of the season, reaching the milestone for the third time after 2012 and 2013. … Grandal became the sixth Dodger to hit 20 or more homers, joining Cody Bellinger, Yasiel Puig, Corey Seager, Chris Taylor and Justin Turner. It is the first time in Dodgers history that six players have reached 20. … Hoskins is the first major league player to reach 40 RBIs in 40 or fewer games since Albert Pujols in 36 games in 2001.
SETTING UP THE BULLPEN
Roberts said Kenta Maeda and Hyun-Jin Ryu will pitch out of the bullpen in the playoffs. The rotation figures to include Clayton Kershaw, Darvish, Rich Hill and Alex Wood. Roberts also said both likely will see bullpen time in the final days of the regular season. Maeda is scheduled to start Thursday in Philadelphia.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: C Jorge Alfaro was hit on the right hand by a Baez pitch in the seventh inning and remained in the game.
UP NEXT
Wood (15-3, 2.69) is slated to start for the Dodgers on Wednesday and RHP Jake Thompson (2-2, 4.46) for the Phillies. Wood is 3-3 with a 3.40 ERA in eight starts and five relief appearances against Philadelphia, and the left-hander threw six shutout innings Friday at Washington. Thompson has faced the Dodgers once, allowing five runs in five innings during a 7-2 loss in August last year.
___
More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
Please read our comment policy before commenting.