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Kenta Maeda Exits Early With Injury as Dodgers Fall to Phillies

Nick Williams homered and Jake Arrieta did the rest, as the Philadelphia Phillies shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1, on Tuesday night at Dodger stadium.

This time there was no comeback.

Nick Williams homered and Jake Arrieta did the rest, as the Philadelphia Phillies shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1, on Tuesday night at Dodger stadium.

"You want to be a stopper," said Arrieta after the game. "Anytime you're in a situation where you lose a tough game, especially in the first game, you want to come out and put a stop to it. That's what I intended to do."

Following a four-run comeback the night prior, the Dodgers found themselves in a similar situation in game two of the series as they fell behind 3-0 in the second inning. 

Williams led off the inning with a solo shot to right-center on a 92MPH four-seam fastball from Kenta Maeda.

Maeda left the game three batters later with just two outs in the inning with a right hip strain. The injury quickly turned the contest into a bullpen game one day after the pen had do pitch five innings of scoreless relief for Brock Stewart.

"Getting pulled out early is something I don't want to do, it puts a lot of pressure on the team," Maeda said through a translator of having to exit the game early. "Throughout the day there was remnants of it, but as I started pitching it became gradually more and more painful throughout the game."

Scott Alexander entered the game immediately for Maeda, and after a walk to Cesar Hernandez, and a single to Maikel Franco, Odubel Herrera hit a single that second baseman Logan Forsythe couldn't handle because of a bad hop and the Phillies led 3-0.

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Maeda (4-4) left as the losing pitcher of record, allowing two runs on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts in just 1 and 2/3 innings of work. 

"He wanted to stay in and finish the inning, but the risk versus reward was not good," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts. "He will get an MRI tomorrow. It looks like a potential DL [disabled list] situation. Nothing too severe, but enough for him to potentially miss a start."

The Japanese right-hander was left to excogitate an answer to what caused his hip injury, especially after back-to-back brilliant starts in his last two outings. Maeda fired 14 and 2/3 scoreless innings with 20 strikeouts against the Marlins and Rockies before today.

"In my last outing I felt the pain in my hip," Maeda said through a translator about the injury. "In between the last outing and this outing it was feeling pretty good until I started pitching in this game."

Scott Kingery and Jorge Alfaro hit back-to-back doubles in the sixth inning to extend the Phillies lead to 4-0, the same as it was on Monday night.

Philadelphia, back in their lateritious jerseys, would not allow a comeback on this night as Arrieta stymied the Dodgers hitters all night long with seven shutout innings.

"He used his sinker really well and had his slider going too," said Roberts of Arrieta. "His slider and sinker were really good all night long."

Arrieta (5-2), famously threw a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium as a member of the Chicago Cubs in 2015. Instead of no hits, he scattered six of them on Tuesday, striking out five, while walking just two batters.

"Limiting those guys to five or six singles is a pretty good night," said Arrieta. "I felt good, but I can always get better though."

Justin Turner knocked in the lone run of the game for Los Angeles with an RBI single that scored Max Muncy in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Muncy finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored and a double for his fifth multi-hit game of the season. In his last 17 games since May 10, he is batting .313 with six runs, five doubles, four home runs and 13 RBI.

"Everyone was battling tonight," said Muncy. "Bullpen did a fairly good job and that's all we can ask for."

Philadelphia did some late damage against Dodgers' reliever Daniel Hudson as Rhys Hoksins and Carlos Santana both doubled in the top of the ninth. 

In total, five of the first six batters reached base, as Hudson was hammered to the tune of two runs on four hits, extending the Phillies lead to 6-1.

The Phillies recorded a season-high six doubles in tonight’s contest, the most since collecting six on Sept. 12, 2017 versus the Marlins.

Up Next:

Zach Eflin will take the mound for the Fightin' Phils on Wednesday opposite RHP Ross Stripling for the Dodgers. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10PM PST.

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