LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kyle Schwarber Homered twice, his first powerful throw cleared the right field pavilion in a three-run fourth inning, and the Philadelphia Phillies avoided the sweep with an 8-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of their NL Division Series on Wednesday night.
It was the team's first schwarbomb of the postseason. New Zealand's leading home run hitter and the first time allowed by the Dodgers in this playoffs. Schwarber went 0-for-8 in the NLDS, hitting a 96 mph fastball from Yoshinobu Yamamoto to 455 feet.
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Schwarber became the second player to vault over the pavilion, joining Pittsburgh's Willie Stargell, who did so in 1969 and 1973. Fans standing near the back railing pointed as the ball came out.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven series will take place Thursday at Dodger Stadium.
After Philadelphia's Aaron Nola pitched the first two innings, Ranger Suarez came in and allowed one run and five hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one.
In the eighth, the Phillies got five more runs — including a single by JT Realmuto and a two-run shot by Schwarber — off three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw in his first relief appearance in the postseason since 2019.
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Six of the Phillies' 12 hits came against Kershaw in his 18th and final season with the Dodgers before he retired at the end of the season.
Yamamoto retired nine of his first 10 batters before the Phillies pounced on him in the fourth. Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm followed with singles, with Harper scoring on a throwing error by center fielder Andy Pages. It eluded third baseman Max Muncy and hit the Dodgers dugout, moving Bohm to third. He scored on Brandon Marsh's sacrifice fly to left for a 3-1 lead.
The Phillies chased Yamamoto with back-to-back singles by Bryson Stott and Trea Turner in the fifth.
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Reliever Anthony Banda came in and worked because the bases were loaded. He struck out Schwarber after double interceptions by Stott and Turner. Harper was eliminated and Bohm was deliberately chased away before Banda delivered a decisive blow to Marsh to end the threat.
The Dodgers led 1-0 after Tommy Edman scored on the first pitch and Suarez led off the third.
The Dodgers had potential ties on first and second in the sixth, but Max Muncy grounded into an inning-ending double play.
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Kershaw allowed three runners in the seventh, but none scored. Another left-hander, 89-year-old Dodgers great Sandy Koufax, was on his feet and cheering as Kershaw ran to the mound.
Dodgers batters Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman combined to go 0-for-8 with three strikeouts. Mookie Betts tripled and singled in four runs.
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