ESPN News Services
Oct 6, 2025, 09:16 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA -- Will Smith drove in two runs in support of Blake Snell, who tossed six masterful innings of one-hit baseball, and the Los Angeles Dodgers outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-3, in Game 2 of the NLDS Monday night at Citizens Bank Park.
With the win, the Dodgers improved to a perfect 4-0 in the postseason, and now own a 2-0 series lead headed into Wednesday's Game 3 in Los Angeles.
The Phillies, eliminated in the same round last season to the New York Mets, have now lost five of the past six postseason games. And in Monday's loss, the struggles continued for stars Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper.
"You'd like those guys to be swinging the bats," Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson said of his top three hitters, who are now a combined 2-21 in this series. "But I do like what we're doing at the bottom part of the order. And Snell was good tonight, but I thought our at-bats were better. ... But you do have to have confidence that those guys will get it going."
Turner ended the game with a groundout in the ninth inning, when Los Angeles first baseman Freddie Freeman saved a wild throw at first base from second baseman Tommy Edman that would have scored at least the tying run.
"Obviously, Tommy threw it into the dirt, thankfully, I was able to catch it and stay on the base," Freeman said. "But that was a stressful inning."
Snell stuck out nine Phillies before giving way to relievers Emmet Sheehan, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki.
Shohei Ohtani delivered an RBI single for his first hit of the series in a four-run seventh, and the Dodgers took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth.
Nick Castellanos slid headfirst into second base, barely eluding a tag, for a two-run double off Treinen that at last sent the Philadelphia crowd into a frenzy and made it a 4-3 game. Vesia came in to face Bryson Stott, who tried to advance Castellanos with a bunt. But third baseman Max Muncy wheeled and threw to shortstop Mookie Betts sprinting over to cover the bag in time to get Castellanos.
Pinch-hitter Harrison Bader singled and Max Kepler grounded into a fielder's choice that left runners at the corners with two outs just before Turner grounded out.
The Dodgers can advance to their 17th National League Championship Series with a win Wednesday night. A club that used the injured list this season 37 times for 2,585 days, according to Major League Baseball, are finally mostly healthy and need to win just once in two home games to clinch the series. Teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have won 80 of 90 times, including 54 sweeps.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
