Dodgers beat Phillies, carefully manage Justin

PHILADELPHIA — Left-hander Justin Wrobleski plans to give Clayton Kershaw a call.

Wrobleski has long spoken extremely of Kershaw’s affect on him as a teammate. But as Wrobleski charts his approach past his profession high in innings at any stage, he wants some additional advice from the three-time Cy Young winner.

“Trying to figure out how he did it for so long, throwing 200 a year,” Wrobleski said after holding the Phillies to one run through 6 ⅓ innings in the Dodgers’ 2-1 win Tuesday. “This is something I’ve been thinking about the past couple days. … I think it’s something that could be helpful moving forward.”

Wrobleski’s workload is one thing supervisor Dave Roberts is considering about, too.

Every 12 months, groups across Major League Baseball declare that they’ve their sights set on the World Series. But the Dodgers have made that pilgrimage through October so routine, and have leveraged their financial would possibly to assemble such a deep roster, that the additional month of play weighs more closely on their midseason choices than it does for any other membership.

Yes, the Dodgers need to declare the best regular-season document in the majors. But they also know how very important it’s to peak in health and efficiency at the appropriate time. Part of that puzzle is managing workload for younger pitchers who are poised to be major postseason contributors.

“[Wrobleski’s] obviously a huge piece of what we’re doing and what we’re going to be doing,” Roberts said before the Dodgers’ win.

The Dodgers pulled out the victory on a game-ending 5-2-6-4 double play when the Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto was thrown out operating back to second base — instead of staying on third — after Justin Crawford was caught in a rundown.

“Obviously with the six-man [rotation] that we’re kind of beholden to for this whole season, I think that’s helped,” Roberts said. “And each outing, just manage how he’s looking, how he’s feeling, and a lot of conversations that we have. But yeah, we’re still looking out to play through October, so got to be mindful of the workload.”

Wrobleski reached the 100-inning mark in his last start before the All-Star break — and then recorded 5 strikeouts in his first Midsummer Classic, on his twenty sixth birthday no less. He’s on tempo to attain a profession high in innings (at any stage) in his next three begins.

Wrobleski will blow past the 123 ⅓ innings he threw last 12 months between triple-A, the majors and the postseason. But his general workload last 12 months may very well be thought-about a little greater than the innings rely, factoring pitches thrown on backfields and work to keep prepared during the playoffs before making his postseason debut in the World Series.

“At the end of the day, they’re going to do what’s best for me in my career, and I trust this organization and these people,” Wrobleski said. “So my job’s always to go out there and give them whatever they need from me that day and pitch until they take the ball away from me. And today that was 6 1/3, and we’ll see where that goes the rest of the year.”

This 12 months, Wrobleski has thrown the second-most innings of any Dodger, behind only Yoshinobu Yamamoto (119 ⅔). There’s a huge hole before No. 3 on that checklist, Emmet Sheehan (87 2/3).

The Dodgers have two avenues to subtly ease Wrobleski’s workload, when merited, through quantity of begins and through pitches within a start.

Even with Shohei Ohtani (left knee irritation) out of the rotation indefinitely, the Dodgers need to keep their beginning pitchers on a six- to seven-day rotation. That will naturally cut down on innings, in contrast to pitching on common relaxation.

On Tuesday, Roberts didn’t take the ball from Wrobleski until after the first out in the seventh inning, a deep start, but he was environment friendly enough that his pitch rely was only up to 89.

“I thought he pitched well enough to put us in a position to win the game,” Roberts said. “I’ve got all the confidence in Justin, as everyone knows, as he knows. But I wasn’t about to let him lose that game. I thought the stuff was starting to falter a little bit, as far as the command. If you can curb some stressful pitches here or there, I think it’s smart. It’s always good when it works out.”

Muncy milestone

Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy’s two-run home run gave the Dodgers the lead in the fourth inning. It was his 228th home run as a Dodger, tied with Ron Cey for No. 5 on the franchise all-time checklist (No. 2 since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles).

“It’s really, really cool,” Muncy said. “I always say, any time you’re on any type of leaderboard when it comes to this organization, you’ve done something right. So for me, that means a lot.”

Wild end

Closer Tanner Scott recorded a five-out save to seal the victory on a wild double play that included a pickle between third and home.

With one out and runners on second and third, Scott received the Phillies’ Brandon Marsh to chase an inside fastball and hit a smooth grounder to Muncy at third.

By the time Muncy fielded it cleanly, both Phillies baserunners, Crawford and Realmuto, had taken large leads off their respective bases.

Muncy ran after Crawford to catch him in a rundown. And just before shortstop Mookie Betts tagged out Crawford on his approach back to third, Realmuto inexplicably left third base to return to second.

“I think that’s like the first time I’ve yelled on the field,” Scott said. “I was like, ‘Mookie, two!’ Crazy play.”

Betts fired to second, and second baseman Tommy Edman tagged out Realmuto to end the sport.

“All the work you put in pregame and from the start of the season, you hope that kicks in, just instincts,” Muncy said. “That’s where the experience really matters in those types of situations. With us, we always have a ton of experience out there.”