 that made it 4-all. Chris Taylor followed with a triple and scored the go-ahead run on a grounder by Austin Barnes.Rookie Walker Buehler (1-0) pitched a hitless inning to win his first major league decision. Kenley Jansen got four outs for his 39th save.Phillies rookie Rhys Hoskins hit a two-run double and Nick Williams homered.Granderson hit his 25th homer of the season in the sixth. He's connected six times since being traded from the Mets to the Dodgers.Williams had a two-run homer, his 11th, in the third. Hoskins doubled in the fifth to give the Phillies a 4-2 lead.TRAINER'S ROOMDodgers: SS Corey Seager sat out after bruising his lower right leg on a foul ball Wednesday night. He's expected to miss a few games, manager Dave Roberts said.UP NEXTDodgers: LHP Rich Hill (10-8, 3.60) starts at Dodger Stadium against the Giants. He allowed one run on one hit in five innings last Saturday in a 3-2 win over Washington. The Giants will pitch RHP Jeff Samardzija (9-14, 4.42).Phillies: RHP Ben Lively (3-6, 3.94) begins Philadelphia's final road series of the season in Atlanta. Lively had a no-decision during a rain-shortened three-inning outing on Saturday night in a 5-3 win over Oakland. He will be opposed by Atlanta LHP Sean Newcomb (3-8, 4.32).)
Dodgers try to avoid sweep at Philadelphia 7h ago• 2 min read PHILADELPHIA -- The Los Angeles Dodgers will not be leaving Philadelphia with their fifth straight National League West title.They don't want to take a fifth straight loss with them, either.The Dodgers play the finale of a four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, and they cannot clinch their fifth consecutive division title even if they win.The magic number remained at two after the Dodgers fell to the Phillies 7-5 on Wednesday night and the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks rallied to beat the San Diego Padres 13-7. The Diamondbacks are off Thursday.Los Angeles will play the last contest of a 10-game road trip that leads into its final homestand of the regular season.The Dodgers (96-56) have already clinched a playoff spot and still own the best record in baseball despite dropping 20 of their past 25 games."There might be a little bit of that," Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said of his team getting anxious to clinch the division. "We just seem like we're so close to that finish line as far as clinching. But (Wednesday night) the energy was really good." Meanwhile, the Phillies (61-91) have come from behind to win the first three games of the series."They're a playoff team," Philadelphia center fielder Odubel Herrera said of the Dodgers. "For everyone in the clubhouse, it's motivation to come in here and play hard." Phillies outfielder Aaron Altherr has hit a home run in each of the first three games of the series. He hit a grand slam off Clayton Kershaw on Monday night and recorded three hits and four RBIs on Wednesday.The Phillies are 11-8 in August and 18-14 over their past 32 games."I think what (Phillies manager Pete Mackanin) and his coaching staff is doing with those guys is tremendous," Roberts said. "They're an athletic group, they play the game the right way, and they play hard." Kenta Maeda (12-6, 4.21 ERA) will take the ball for the Dodgers on Thursday afternoon, making his fourth career start against the Phillies. The right-hander is 3-0 with a 3.50 ERA and 1.00 WHIP against Philadelphia in his career, including a strong appearance on April 28 when he held the Phillies to two runs in seven innings and recorded eight strikeouts.Thursday will be Maeda's first start since Sept. 11, as the Dodgers opted to skip his scheduled start Sunday in Washington.Things did not go as well for Maeda in his most recent outing. The 29-year-old from Japan gave up four runs to the San Francisco Giants in three innings of Los Angeles' 8-6 loss.Maeda likely will be shifted to the Dodgers' bullpen during the postseason, according to the Los Angeles Times.Phillies rookie Mark Leiter Jr. (3-6, 4.93 ERA) will be make his 10th big-league start of the season Thursday. Leiter has bounced between the bullpen and the rotation this season -- as well as from Triple-A to the majors -- but he has been part of the Phillies' rotation for the past month.The right-hander is 3-5 with a 5.19 ERA as a starter. He allowed a total of eight runs in 12 innings over his past two starts, but he struck out 17 in that span.Leiter pitched a scoreless inning of relief against the Dodgers in Los Angeles on April 28 in his major league debut.
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