Dodgers drop the ball in Game 3, Kyle Schwarber hits 2 homers as Phillies win in rout, 8-2 – NBC Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Dodgers returned home to the friendly confines of Chavez Ravine believing they were about to do the unthinkable: sweep the NL East winning Philadelphia Phillies, the World Series favorites just a week ago. 

But baseball has a way of flipping scripts without warning, and what was supposed to be a coronation and a celebration for the Boys in Blue instead turned into a disappointing performance and a new lifeline for the once floundering Phils. 

The National League home run leader Kyle Schwarber hit two homers and the Phillies rallied to beat the Dodgers 8-2 in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. 

“Hits are great, homers are great, walks are great, anything positive for our offense is going to be great,” said a smiling Schwarber after the victory. “But, yeah, it was a cool moment.”

The Dodgers shocked the baseball world by stealing the first two games of the series on the road at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia, where the Phillies have had the best record at home for the last two decades in October. 

Additionally, the Phillies potent top of the order–so loud all season–was eerily quiet in the first two games of the series. But in the top of the fourth inning, the sleeping giant finally roared awake.

It started, as it so often does for Philadelphia, with Kyle Schwarber — the barrel-chested lefty whose bat could power half the city’s skyline. Yamamoto left a 96-mph fastball just a breath too high, and Schwarber punished it with authority. The ball rocketed into the night and nearly out of Dodger Stadium, a 455-foot moonshot that landed somewhere near the palm trees in right field. It was the longest home run hit in the 2025 postseason by any player, a statement blast that tilted the energy of the entire series.

“When I hit it, I knew it’s a home run,” said Schwarber. “I didn’t even see where it landed. I was looking in the dugout trying to get the guys going, get back in the dugout, everyone is high-fiving. And I knew I hit it good. I didn’t know where it went. Eventually somebody tells me how far it went.”

From there, things unraveled for Los Angeles. Bryce Harper, ever the postseason menace, followed with a sharp single to center. Alec Bohm slapped one right after him, setting up what looked like a chance for Yamamoto to escape trouble. But as Harper rounded second and dared to test Andy Pages’ arm, the baseball gods had other plans.

Pages fired a perfect strike to third base — on the money, on time — but Max Muncy couldn’t handle it. The ball clanked off his glove and skipped into the Dodgers dugout. Harper jogged home, Bohm advanced to third, and Yamamoto lowered his head in disbelief. Moments later, a sacrifice fly made it 3–1 Phillies, and suddenly the Dodgers’ night had a familiar October feel — one of missed chances and untimely mistakes.

“The lineup woke up,” said Phillies’ manager Rob Thomson. “We’ll see about the rest of the series. But certainly I thought we hit balls hard prior to that, too, some balls deep, almost to the wall, to the warning track. So we were on Yamamoto decent, but I did think we had good at-bats.”

For the Dodgers, it wasn’t supposed to go this way.

Aaron Nola, Philadelphia’s battle-tested right-hander, got the start but lasted just two innings. Phillies manager Rob Thomson went to lefty Ranger Suárez early, a move that raised eyebrows but ultimately looked brilliant. Suárez gave up a leadoff homer to Tommy Edman — the first batter he faced — but nothing else. For four innings, the calm Venezuelan worked his magic, inducing soft contact and letting his defense do the rest.

From there, the Phillies bullpen took over and slammed the door. Orion Kerkering, Taijuan Walker, and Tanner Banks combined to pitch two innings to seal the victory.

“They pretty much did exactly what we wanted. We wanted to use those guys to get as close to Duran as we could to save some of the bullpen for tomorrow if we want,” said Thomson of his pitching staff. “Nola was really good. The plan was to go one time through the lineup and Ranger is on Ohtani. Ended up with Edman leading off the third. He’s 1-for-20 with nine strikeouts against Ranger, and he hit the first pitch out of the ballpark.”

Clayton Kershaw, who announced just weeks ago that this would be his final season in baseball, jogged out of the bullpen in the seventh inning. It was his first appearance this postseason–and potentially the last time he will ever pitch at Dodger Stadium. He allowed a single and a walk, before escaping the threat, but things took a turn for the worst in the eighth. 

Kershaw came back out for a second inning, and he probably should have just stayed in the dugout. He allowed a leadoff homer to J.T. Realmuto that extended the lead to 4-1. 

Four batters later, Schwarber did it again with a second home run to right-center that broke the game open for the Phillies, 8-1. 

“That was a tough couple innings,” said Kershaw after the game. “I was battling command. It wasn’t a fun inning.”

When the final out was recorded, the Phillies celebrated quietly on the field, businesslike. They’d come to Los Angeles, punched back after losing Game 2, and were now just one win away from sending the series back to Philadelphia for a do-or-die Game 5 at home. 

Baseball, in October, has no mercy for misplays or what-ifs. It rewards the team that seizes the moment. On Wednesday night, that team wore red and powder blue, not blue and white.

Game 4 is set for Thursday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. Philadelphia will send left-hander Cristopher Sánchez to the mound with a chance to tie the series. The Dodgers are expected to send Tyler Glasnow to the mound with a chance to close the series out again.

But as Kyle Schwarber reminded everyone with two mighty swings, momentum in October can change just as quickly as a baseball can leave the yard.

“It’s been a heavyweight battle of two starting pitching staffs so far,” said Schwarber. “We know what the battle is going to be. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we have the guys to do this, and we’re going to keep fighting and scratching and clawing for anything we can get.”