Bats quieted and Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggles as NLDS continues on – Dodgers Digest

On the verge of an NLDS sweep over the Phillies, the Dodgers entered Game 3 with their biggest pitching mismatch on paper and a game at home. Well, that’s why they play the games, right?

Aaron Nola served as an opener and kept the Dodgers off the board, which allowed Ranger Suarez to basically have a great start in relief to quiet the bats. Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggled with his command and didn’t make it through the 5th inning in an 8-2 loss.

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The surprise starter for the Phillies was Aaron Nola despite Ranger Suarez apparently being available, but as speculated, he ended up being more of an opener than anything else.

Unfortunately, he also did his job despite his defense being shaky behind him. The Dodgers got the first chance of the game when Mookie Betts flared a ball into center with one down and Brandon Marsh took a huge chance with a diving attempt that came up short.

Mookie ended up at third with a triple, giving the Dodgers a prime chance for an early lead, but Teoscar Hernandez struck out to put Nola on the verge of escape. He did hit Freddie Freeman to put a pair on, but then got Will Smith to also strike out, escaping the jam.

In the 2nd, Nick Castellanos had back-to-back adventures but got the outs in the end, and Nola notched another strikeout to end the 2nd in 1-2-3 fashion.

That was the end of the road for Nola, who was indeed in there as an Opener of sorts, and Rob Thomson wanted to give Ranger Suarez a clean inning. Thus, he turned around Tommy Edman and that led to the game’s first run when he smashed the first pitch he saw over the wall in left to make it 1-0.

One pitch is all Tommy needed! pic.twitter.com/ypAQWbDLWZ

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 9, 2025

Suarez did rebound to get the next three outs, but the Dodgers had the lead after three.

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For the Dodgers, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, one of the best starters in baseball for the year and coming into the playoffs with an especially hot hand.

He got two outs on four pitches to start things off in the 1st, but then issued a full-count walk to Bryce Harper after getting ahead 0-2. Fortunately, Alec Bohm flew out just short of the track in center to end the inning, and then got a clean 2nd that included his first strikeout.

Yamamoto made it seven in a row retired with a 1-2-3 frame in the 3rd, but Kyle Schwarber showed up in the 4th when he absolutely demolished a 2-0 fastball over the pavilion in right to tie things up at 1-1.

HOLY SCHWARBOMB pic.twitter.com/Nn9HPrTCjL

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

More problematic, Harper followed with a groundball single against the shift and Alec Bohm had one of his own up the middle. On that single, Harper dug for third and Andy Pages came up throwing, it looked like he had him but the ball bounced off Max Muncy and into the dugout for a Pages error, Harper scoring, and Bohm getting to third.

Keep the pressure on ’em boys! pic.twitter.com/wQt92HbWQN

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

A flyball to left from Brandon Marsh led to a sac fly and gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead.

Marshy brings in another! pic.twitter.com/yWJWajkxoK

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

To keep things rolling J.T. Realmuto hit a ground-rule double to put another in scoring position, but Yamamoto got the next two to get through the 4th.

Things didn’t get better in the 5th for Yamamoto, as he gave up back-to-back singles to Bryson Stott and Trea Turner to put a pair on, and that was the end of his night. Yamamoto just didn’t have his best command and struggled to land the split: 4 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 67 Pitches.

Bad time for his worst start in months.

Anthony Banda entered, looking to bail out Yamamoto, and things started roughly when a double steal was pulled off. However, he struck out Schwarber on a 3-2 fastball, got Harper to pop out, and then after intentionally walking Bohm to load the bases, he struck out Marsh to escape a huge jam and keep the Dodgers within striking distance.

The pen looked to continue to keep them in it in the 6th, as Jack Dreyer issued a one-out walk, but got a scoreless frame.

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Back on the other side, Suarez continued on for the Phillies and the Dodgers did try to fight back in their half of the 4th, as after a pair of strikeouts, Enrique Hernandez drew a walk and Max Muncy singled to put a pair on, but they couldn’t take advantage as Andy Pages popped out.

In the 5th, they managed just a two-out Mookie single, but they rallied again in the 6th. A one-out single from Will Smith was followed by a bloop single from Enrique Hernandez. Representing the go-ahead run, Muncy couldn’t come through this time against a lefty, as he killed the rally with an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play. Miguel Rojas was on deck to hit for Andy Pages, but in retrospect, hitting for Max was probably the play.

Two for the price of one pic.twitter.com/dxcLzimgV9

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

My only thing is if you were gonna hit Rojas for Pages, then you probably should’ve done so for Muncy. I get he singled earlier, but you didn’t start him against lefties for a reason.

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) October 8, 2025 at 5:15 PM

Suarez finished his outing by getting a 1-2-3 frame in the 7th, including a flyout right in front of the wall from Ohtani to make him hitless in four trips. That’s five huge innings of one-run ball from him.

Shohei Ohtani homer?Caught at the wall?

This was WILD pic.twitter.com/LZ0UMnSfHs

— MLB (@MLB) October 9, 2025

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For the 7th, it was a familiar pitcher in an unfamiliar role with Clayton Kershaw coming in, and things did not get off to a great start. Trea singled to start, then he walked Schwarber to put runners in scoring position for the Phillies again. But he got some help from unlikely sources, as Harper lined out to Teoscar Hernandez in right, who made a sliding catch. Then on a curve in the dirt, Trea hesitated in going to third, which led to indecision from Schwarber, who got backpicked at first for the second out. Dave Roberts then opted to intentionally walk Bohm again after Kershaw went 3-0 to him, and it paid off again when Marsh lined out to Teoscar to end the threat.

Dave tried to get length out of him but that backfired, as J.T. Realmuto led the inning off with a homer to make it 4-1.

The Realmuto World: Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/gDrdTExpqU

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

A Max Kepler walk followed, then Castellanos reached on a Muncy error, and after a Stott sac bunt, Trea singled to plate two more insurance runs to make it 6-1.

Turn it UP pic.twitter.com/ekxHHb1RnJ

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

Schwarber then stayed hot and skied a two-run homer to right to make it 8-1 just like that.

RAINMAKER pic.twitter.com/509MycLTXi

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2025

Things didn’t get much better, as Harper doubled and Bohm singled, but Enrique threw out Harper at the plate. Kershaw only got out of the inning when Marsh drilled a ball and Justin Dean made a leaping catch crashing into the wall.

Blake Treinen finished the Phillies in the 9th with a bounce back outing, getting the frame in order on just 10 pitches.

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The biggest win for the Phillies is not having to use Jhoan Duran due to the insurance runs. Orion Kerkering coasted through an 11-pitch 8th, though Taijuan Walker walked Enrique and gave up a single to Muncy with one out, then gave up a jam-shot single to Tommy to make it 8-2. Surprisingly, he went to a lefty in Tanner Banks to face Ohtani, who flew out to end the game.

Better show up tomorrow.

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Welp, now it’s 2-1 in the NLDS and we’re back to a couple of 50-50 games.

Tomorrow will be another game for the first time in the series, and it’ll be on TBS, truTV, and HBO Max at 12:08 PM HT/3:08 PM PT/6:08 PM ET. The matchup will be Tyler Glasnow making his first start of the playoffs against Cristopher Sanchez.