PHILADELPHIA — The way both Blake Snell and Jesús Luzardo were dealing, it took the smallest of breaks to make a difference in Game 2 of the NL Division Series on Monday night.
The break in question for the Dodgers: a 35.4 mph dribbler just past the mound from Kiké Hernández, which scored Teoscar Hernández to snap a scoreless tie in the seventh inning and opened the proverbial floodgates for Los Angeles.
Behind another dominant start from Snell, the Dodgers beat the Phillies, 4-3, on Monday night, taking the first two games at Citizens Bank Park before the series shifts to Dodger Stadium for Game 3. L.A. survived a high-stress ninth inning in which Philadelphia scored twice to make it a one-run game with nobody out, necessitating three relievers — Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia and Roki Sasaki — to get the final three outs.
The game almost got away from the Dodgers on the final play. With the tying and go-ahead runs on base, Trea Turner hit a routine grounder to Tommy Edman, but the second baseman bounced the throw to first, necessitating a miraculous scoop by Freddie Freeman to secure the final out.
As for Snell, it marked only the second time in franchise postseason history that a Dodger recorded a scoreless start of at least six innings with one or no hits allowed. Walker Buehler had the other in Game 1 of the 2019 NLDS against the Nationals.
In postseason history, all teams taking a 2-0 lead in any best-of-five series have gone on to win that series 80 of 90 times (88.9%). In Division Series with the current 2-2-1 format, teams to win both Games 1 and 2 on the road have advanced 16 of 18 times (88.9%), including 12 sweeps.
