LOS ANGELES -- Justin Wrobleski watched as Kyle Schwarber took a hack at a fastball toward the bottom of the zone. His eyes lingered on the slugger's face, and then he nodded to himself, knowing what had happened before turning to see the ball clear the center-field fence.
With two outs in the sixth inning, Wrobleski had just given up his first hit.
"That's how I know if the hitter got it or not. You kind of look at their reaction, and I knew he got it," Wrobleski said. "I've seen that 1,000 times. I grew up a Cubs fan, so I've seen him do that a lot."
Wrobleski couldn't help being a little frustrated as he reflected on the way his no-hit bid ended. But one hit did not taint a strong start in which his velocity ticked up across seven stellar innings, setting the tone as the Dodgers beat the Phillies, 4-2, on Friday night at Dodger Stadium. It was their season-high sixth straight win.
Wrobleski outdueled Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler, who surrendered four solo homers across six innings in the series opener.
"Wheeler's one of the game's best, doesn't give up a lot of home runs," manager Dave Roberts said. "But tonight we had four really good swings and had a great pitching performance by Wrobo, and that's all we needed."
While Wrobleski opened his stint in the rotation by going 5-0 and allowing two earned runs through 32 innings in his first five starts, he was in a bit of a rut entering Friday. In his previous three starts, Wrobleski gave up 14 earned runs in 19 2/3 innings, although half of those came in one bizarre start in which he came an out away from going the distance.
Early in the season, Wrobleski wasn't missing a lot of bats. He found success by generating soft contact and getting outs on balls in play. But on Friday, he had the swing-and-miss he had been lacking for much of the first two months. Wrobleski reached career highs with nine strikeouts and 16 whiffs.
"He's had good outings. He's chewed up a lot of innings," Roberts said. "But when you can get the swing-and-miss in the zone, that's kind of a separator for any pitcher."
From the beginning, it was clear that Wrobleski was locked in when he struck out the side in the first inning. Those three strikeouts -- and the six that followed -- all came on his fastball, which averaged 94.9 mph, up from his season average of 93.7.
Through five innings, Wrobleski did not allow a hit, and the only thing that kept him from being perfect was a Trea Turner fly ball that dropped between center fielder Andy Pages and right fielder Kyle Tucker, glancing off Tucker's glove just in front of the warning track. The play was ruled an error on Tucker.
Wrobleski got to two outs in the sixth inning before Schwarber’s Major League-leading 22nd home run. Across his seven innings, Wrobleski allowed just one hit and two baserunners.
Not only did Wrobleski have the conviction to attack hitters in the zone, but his revived velocity made his stuff that much better. It was a difficult combination for a Phillies team that has struggled mightily against left-handed pitching this year, ranking 28th in the Majors with a .208 average against southpaws.
"We just really didn’t get on the fastball tonight, as much as anything," Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. "He threw a lot of fastballs, and we just got behind in the count a lot, and he stayed on the attack. We didn’t really do a lot with him, obviously."
Wrobleski felt that something clicked with his mechanics toward the end of his start in Milwaukee on May 22, when he gave up five runs across five innings. He felt more in sync, and his velocity followed. Nine of the 10 hardest pitches he's thrown this season have come against the Brewers and Phillies.
As he showed in his earlier run of dominance, Wrobleski doesn't necessarily need his best velocity to thrive on the mound. But now that he's unlocked it, he feels that he's more complete as a pitcher.
"It's a lot more fun, I'll tell you that much," Wrobleski said. "But obviously, like I've said before, any way you can get outs in the Major Leagues, I think you're going to take them."