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The Pedro Baez Experiment Continues as Dodgers Blow Second Straight Lead to Phillies, 6-2

Pedro Baez blew another Dodgers lead and the Philadelphia Phillies came from behind for the second straight night to defeat Los Angeles, 6-2, on Tuesday night at Citizen's Bank Park.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 

Pedro Baez blew another lead and the Philadelphia Phillies came from behind for the second straight night to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-2, on Tuesday night at Citizen's Bank Park.

For the second straight game the Dodgers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to an opposite field home run for Yasmani Grandal.

The long ball was Grandal's first since September 5th, and his 20th home run of the season.

"Yasmani is doing a much better job the last couple games of staying in the strike zone," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts. "When he does that, it can really benefit us."

Grandal became the sixth member of the Dodgers 20-homer club this season joining Chris Taylor (20), Corey Seager (20), Justin Turner (21), Yasiel Puig (26), and Cody Bellinger (38).

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One inning later, Curtis Granderson hit an RBI double to right field that scored Cody Bellinger.

Granderson has been atrocious at the plate since he was acquired from the New York Mets on Aug. 19, but appears to be showing signs of life as he homered on Monday and doubled on Tuesday.

"I like the way he stays in the strike zone," said Roberts of Granderson lately. "When he starts putting the bat on the ball, there's going to be some production. I thought his at-bats were good tonight."

Yu Darvish made his 30th start of the season for the Dodgers and pitched well for the first five innings.

Darvish did not factor in the decision, allowing just one run (none earned) on four hits with one walk and seven strikeouts in 5 and 1/3 innings.

"I felt like my body was heavy today," Darvish said after the game. "It was a battle throughout the game. I wish I could have completed the sixth inning."

Darvish also recorded his 200th strikeout of the season in the game.

With the Dodgers leading 2-1 entering the seventh inning, manager Dave Roberts went to struggling right-hander Pedro Baez, as the experiment continued.

"I felt that was his inning," said Roberts of the decision. "It was the bottom part of the order. I just felt that you got to run him out there and give him an opportunity to get three outs."

Baez allowed a triple, a hit batter, and a walk before he issued a four-pitch walk that tied the game with two outs and the bases loaded.

"I've been having trouble with the command of my fastball," said Baez of his outing. "I did shy away from my secondary pitches. It hasn't been a good stretch. I've never been through a stretch like this, but I'm going to continue to work hard to get out of it."

One batter later, Rhys Hoskins, continued the hot-start to his career as he hammered a bases-clearing, three-run double off Baez that gave the Phillies a 5-2 lead.

Baez has an ERA of 22.50 in the month of September and has struggled with command repeatedly for the last two months.

"Where Pedro was a few weeks ago, versus where he is now, he's in a different spot and I think you have to take your best 25 when it comes to potentially getting a postseason roster together," said Roberts. "There's a point where production has to come through. Especially where we're at in the season. It was a tough night."

One inning later, Aaron Altherr homered for the second straight night as he took reliever Brock Stewart deep to add an extra insurance run.

The Dodgers drop to 12-6 at Citizens Bank Park since 2012 and are in jeopardy of losing their first series there since 2011.

One more loss on Wednesday or Thursday and the Dodgers streak of six straight series wins over the Phillies, the longest active streak in MLB, will be snapped.

Andre Ethier made a rare start in left field for Los Angeles. Granderson started in right field, and Yasiel Puig had the night off.

The game was delayed 30 minutes because of rain.

The Dodgers Magic Number remains at three, with a chance it could drop to two if the Arizona Diamonbacks lose to the San Diego Padres later in the evening.

Postseason tickets go on sale on Wednesday at 10:00AM at Dodger stadium and online at Dodgers.com/postseason.

Up Next:

Alex Wood heads to the mound in the third game of the series against RHP Jake Thompson. First pitch is scheduled for 4:05PM PST.

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