PHILADELPHIA — Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam, and the Philadelphia Phillies rallied with two runs in the seventh inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-7 on Sunday.
The Phillies took two of three from the World Series champion Dodgers, a series that might not mean much by October but put a little juice into an early April weekend.
Teoscar Hernández homered twice and had five RBIs for the Dodgers, whose only two losses this season came in this three-game series.
Castellanos hit his eighth career grand slam on reliever Alex Vesia’s first pitch in the third inning. The Phillies scored six times in the third and led 6-4 entering the seventh.
The Dodgers went ahead in a three-run seventh against Philadelphia’s bullpen. Mookie Betts hit an RBI double, Hernández’s fifth RBI came on a tying sacrifice fly and Will Smith knocked a run-scoring double off the right-field wall for 7-6 lead.
Bryson Stott tied the game 7-all in the seventh with an RBI single off Blake Treinen (0-1) and Edmundo Sosa beat out at first base a potential double-play ball to shortstop that brought home the go-ahead run.
Hernández hit a two-run homer in the first inning and knocked his second shot off the right field foul pole in the fourth for his 19th career multihomer game.
Orion Kerkering (1-0) got the win. José Alvarado worked the ninth for his second save.
Shohei Ohtani struck out three times against Phillies starter Cristopher Sánchez.
Bryce Harper led off the seventh with a line drive shot to center that was misplayed by Andy Pages and turned into a leadoff double. Harper scored the tying run when Stott singled to right.
The Dodgers send RHP Dustin May (0-0. 0.00 ERA) to the mound against Nationals LHP MacKenzie Gore (0-1, 2.64) on Monday for the start of a three-game series in Washington.
It’s a matchup between last year’s 1-2 finishers in 2024 Cy Young Award voting when winner Chris Sale (0-1, 5.40 ERA) takes the mound for the Braves against runner-up Zack Wheeler (1-0, 1.38) when the Phillies open a three-game set Tuesday in Atlanta.
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