Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2026

An unusual double play ended a rainy 2–1 victory for the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

After an eighty-minute rain delay, Justin Wrobleski and Zack Wheeler battled in a superb pitching duel. Wheeler deserved to be an All-Star but turned down the opportunity after some pitchers dropped out. Dave Roberts’ favorite thing about managing the National League team at the Midsummer Classic was watching his young left-hander experience his first All-Star Game.

Wrobleski was outstanding in his 6.1 innings, using his entire repertoire. Earlier in the season, he relied on his four-seam fastball and slider and experienced unexpected success, but now, he understands that he needs more pitches for the opposition to think about to remain successful. He walked only one through the rain, which affects every pitcher’s control. He struck out seven.

The Dodgers couldn’t do anything against Wheeler but managed to score enough to win. In the third inning with two outs, Eliezer Alfonzo doubled, his first, and should have scored on Shohei Ohtani’s single. However, Ohtani tried to stretch the hit to a double, but Alfonzo didn’t cross home plate before Ohtani was thrown out.

In the fourth inning, after Andy Pages singled, Max Muncy hit a home run.

Evan Phillips struck out the last two batters in the seventh inning on six pitches. He got the first hitter in the eighth inning. Tanner Scott came into the eighth inning and ended that inning with ease. However, he allowed two hits in the ninth inning, but the Phillies ran themselves into a loss. Muncy, Dalton Rushing, and Mookie Betts remained calm and took advantage of the Phillies’ baserunning blunder.

On Wednesday, the Dodgers will look for good weather to win the series against the Phillies with Eric Lauer on the mound.