Dodgers' bullpen suffers rare collapse
Wade, Broxton each give up home run in defeat to Phillies
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LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen, so dominant at slamming the door in the regular season, let the Philadelphia Phillies bust it open Monday night.
Cory Wade and Jonathan Broxton each gave up a two-run homer in the eighth inning and the Phillies won 7-5 to take a 3-1 in the best-of-seven NL championship series.
Wade and Broxton combined for three scoreless innings in a 7-2 victory Sunday night and the Dodgers’ bullpen was a team strength in the regular season, when it ranked second in the NL with a 3.33 ERA that trailed only the 3.19 of the Phillies’ relievers.
But the six pitchers who followed starter Derek Lowe couldn’t hold down the Phillies. The Dodgers tied a league championship series record for pitchers used in a nine-inning game.
“Our bullpen has been great all year,” catcher Russell Martin said. “It was tough for them to give up the lead. They were out there battling. You got to give credit to their hitters, especially (Shane) Victorino. That was a great piece of hitting. He just golfed it out of there.”
Lowe departed after setting the Phillies down in order in the fifth, a move that surprised him.
“It was by far my best inning,” he said. “He’s the manager and he’s made decisions all year long. What are you going to do at that point? Have a hissy fit?”
Los Angeles manager Joe Torre cited Lowe working on three days’ rest as one reason for pulling the right-hander.
“It just looked like he was fighting his emotions the whole game,” Torre said. “We were probably going to get only one more inning out of him anyway pitch count-wise, and I just decided to make the move there.”
Torre made the ill-fated decision to give the ball to Wade ahead of closer Broxton in the eighth, when Victorino and pinch-hitter Matt Stairs each hit two-run drives to put Philadelphia ahead 7-5.
“I don’t think I can say I would do anything differently,” Torre said. “Cory Wade’s numbers against left-hand hitters this year have been really good. He threw a breaking ball and it stayed up and Shane just knocked the hell out of it.”
Wade threw just six pitches in two-thirds of an inning, including one to Victorino that tied it at 5. He took the loss, and left the clubhouse without speaking to reporters.
Broxton came in, almost always a good sign for the Dodgers. Instead, the right-hander made things even worse. Stairs sent a 3-1 pitch into the right-field pavilion, giving Philly the lead.
“I fell behind in the count, made a mistake over the plate and he cashed in,” Broxton said. “You’re going to have these games. You got to wipe it out and get ready to play them again.”
Broxton appeared in all three games of the division series against the Chicago Cubs, working 3 1-3 scoreless innings. He struck out Alfonso Soriano to get the save in Game 3 that closed out the series.
But he couldn’t work himself out of a jam this time.
There was trouble before then, too.
Chan Ho Park’s wild pitch with two outs in the sixth allowed Ryan Howard to score, tying it at 3. Park entered with a scoreless inning in the series.
Clayton Kershaw took over from Lowe in the sixth, giving up one run and one hit in one-third of an inning. Park recorded one out and Joe Beimel got pinch-hitter So Taguchi to pop out to end the inning.
“We just weren’t able to hold them,” Beimel said. “It’s going to happen from time to time. It’s just unfortunate it happened in a game like tonight.”
Hong-Chih Kuo struck out two in the seventh, but he also gave up one run and one hit, unlike the scoreless ninth he pitched in Game 1 against the Phillies.
“He was throwing the ball so well, I was trying to get him through the eighth,” Torre said. “But I watched him warm up and if he didn’t get Howard out, I was going to go get him. That’s what I did.”
Then Wade and Broxton struggled, letting the game get away and giving the Phillies the first road victory in 12 meetings this season between the teams.
“It’s definitely a tough loss,” Lowe said. “I didn’t really see that coming. Our bullpen of late has been tremendous. You’re not going to keep an offense like this down.”
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