Baseball

After Shohei Ohtani Pitches 5 Hitless Innings, Marchon’s 3-Run Homer Rallies Phillies past Dodgers 9-6

AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani works against a Philadelphia Phillies batter during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, in Los Angeles.

The Associated Press

15:05 JST, September 17, 2025

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After Shohei Ohtani pitched five hitless innings for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Philadelphia Phillies’ Rafael Marchon hit a tiebreaking, three-run homer off Blake Treinen with two outs in the ninth inning for a 9-6 win on Tuesday night.

Brandon Marsh had a two-run homer and Max Kepler added a solo shot in a six-run sixth for Philadelphia. Ohtani’s 50th homer leading off the eighth helped the Dodgers tie the game 6-6.

The Phillies erased a 4-0 deficit against Justin Wrobleski in another stunning collapse by the Dodgers bullpen. Philadelphia rallied for four runs in the seventh and eighth innings and another in the 10th on Monday to clinch its second straight NL East title with a wild 6-5 victory.

After Ohtani’s homer, the Dodgers loaded the bases on a double, a walk and a single before Alex Call’s sacrifice fly scored Teoscar Hernández with the tying run.

Ohtani struck out five and walked one, throwing 42 of 68 pitches for strikes in his 13th mound start of the season and 99th of his major league career. He retired his final 13 batters.

The Dodger Stadium crowd of 44,063 groaned at the sight of Wrobleski coming out of the bullpen, knowing Ohtani was done. The team has carefully managed Ohtani’s workload on the mound in his first season pitching for them after two elbow surgeries.

The groans turned to boos when the left-hander loaded the bases with three consecutive one-out singles before Bryce Harper doubled to center on the first pitch, scoring two runs. Marsh followed with a three-run homer to right and the boos intensified as manager Dave Roberts came to take the ball from Wrobleski with the Phillies leading 5-4. Wrobleski’s ERA ballooned to 4.52.

Edgardo Henriquez promptly gave up a solo shot to Kepler for a 6-4 lead.

The bottom half of the Dodgers order jumped on Cristopher Sánchez in the second, taking a 3-0 lead. With one out, Alex Call hit a 408-foot solo shot, then Andy Pages singled and scored on Kiké Hernández’s two-strike, 415-foot homer. Those were just the 11th and 12th homers allowed by Sánchez in 30 starts.

Sánchez allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings with six strikeouts.