| Philadelphia Phillies | 1 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 2 |
11 Innings
Thursday Night, October 9th
Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
Dodgers win series, 3-1
Dodgers win series, 3-1
One Sentence Summary: The Phillies and Dodgers battled through 10 innings, only for the game, the series, and the season, to end on a walk-off error from reliever Orion Kekerking in the bottom of the 11th.
What It Means: I tend to compose these posts the day or days after the end of a game, as I'm typically too tired to put thoughts together after 9pm on most nights. Tonight, I'm writing this partly because I don't know what else to do, but mostly because I want to get it out of the way. This is the fourth year in a row the Phillies season ended without a World Series victory despite the highest of hopes, and each time the season has ended in 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025, it's gotten progressively more gut-wrenching.
What Happened: In case there were any lingering doubts, Cristopher Sanchez cemented himself as the staff ace in this game, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing only four hits until the seventh. He was lifted from the game with one out in the seventh with runners on first and second. Jhoan Duran entered, recorded the second out on a ground out and intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani to load the bases. Duran walked Mookie Betts with the bases loaded, tying the game at 1-1. The Phillies had scored their lone run in the top of the seventh when Nick Castellanos doubled home J.T. Realmuto, who had singled to start the inning. The Phillies offense had four hits and went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
What It Means: I tend to compose these posts the day or days after the end of a game, as I'm typically too tired to put thoughts together after 9pm on most nights. Tonight, I'm writing this partly because I don't know what else to do, but mostly because I want to get it out of the way. This is the fourth year in a row the Phillies season ended without a World Series victory despite the highest of hopes, and each time the season has ended in 2022, 2023, 2024 and now 2025, it's gotten progressively more gut-wrenching.
What Happened: In case there were any lingering doubts, Cristopher Sanchez cemented himself as the staff ace in this game, pitching six scoreless innings and allowing only four hits until the seventh. He was lifted from the game with one out in the seventh with runners on first and second. Jhoan Duran entered, recorded the second out on a ground out and intentionally walked Shohei Ohtani to load the bases. Duran walked Mookie Betts with the bases loaded, tying the game at 1-1. The Phillies had scored their lone run in the top of the seventh when Nick Castellanos doubled home J.T. Realmuto, who had singled to start the inning. The Phillies offense had four hits and went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
The two teams traded scoreless frames in the ninth, tenth and 11th innings, with Duran, Matt Strahm and Jesus Luzardo, the scheduled Game 5 starter, shutting down the Dodgers. The Phillies had the go-ahead run at second base in Bryce Harper in the top of the 11th, but pinch-hitter Harrison Bader struck out to end the threat.
In the bottom of the 11th, Luzardo recorded two outs, but singles from Tommy Edman and Max Muncy put runners on first and third. Kerkering entered and walked Kiké Hernandez to load the bases. With pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim on third, Andy Pages bounced a ball back to Kerkering. The pitcher fielded the ball, and rather than throw to first for the sure out, he opted to throw wildly home, allowing Kim to score the winning run. Game over, series over, season over.
Featured Card: I'm going to take a little break from this blog and the Phillies for a few weeks. This one hurts, and reminds me of the heartbreak of losing the 2011 NLDS to the Cardinals.
Featured Card: I'm going to take a little break from this blog and the Phillies for a few weeks. This one hurts, and reminds me of the heartbreak of losing the 2011 NLDS to the Cardinals.
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