April 28, 2017

Kenta Maeda put together his best start in a while for the Dodgers, pitching 7 strong innings on Friday night, as the Dodgers beat the Phillies at the Ravine.

Maeda (2-2) had not gone past the 6th inning in any of this previous four starts this season.  However, he struck out a season-high eight and limited Philadelphia to five hits, a walk and two runs as Los Angeles snapped the Phillies’ six-game winning streak.

“It was a great day for me,” Maeda said through a translator. “I’ve had a string of bad outings and I felt the pressure going into the game. I knew I had to pitch well or something could happen. We have a lot of great pitchers.”

The only two runs of the game Maeda allowed came on a 3rd inning 2-run double from Freddy Galvez.  That extended his hit streak to 10 straight games.  The Dodgers tied the game at 2-2 after a wild pitch that scored Andrew Toles in the 3rd inning, followed by a Kike Hernandez RBI double in the 4th.

A Yasmani Grandal sacrifice fly in the 5th, and then a Justin Turner RBI double in the 6th extended the lead to 5-2.  Turner extended his career-long hitting streak to 14 games — the longest active hitting streak in the majors — with a first-inning single.  He had 3 hits on the night.

Jerad Eickhoff (0-2) took the loss, and gave up nine hits and five runs.  The Phillies managed to get a run on a sacrifice fly in the 8th inning off the Dodgers bullpen but they wouldn’t get any closer.

Kenley Jansen struck out the side in the 9th inning for his 6th save of the season.

The Dodgers learned after the game that they might be getting 3 injures players back next week: 2nd baseman Logan Forsythe, center fielder Joc Pederson, and left fielder Franklin Gutierrez.  Outfielder Andre Ethier won’t be back until June at the earliest.

The Dodgers and Phillies will be back at it tomorrow night at the Ravine.  Brandon McCarthy (3-0; 2.25 ERA) will get the start for LA, and the Phillies will send Zach Eflin (0-0; 1.50 ERA) to the hill.