PHILADELPHIA -- Sometimes, the hardest outs to get are the final three.
The Phillies were threatening to flip the game on its head, inching within a run in the bottom of the ninth. With the tying run on second base and nobody out, the Dodgers’ infield felt that they could not run their standard playbook.
So the captain of the infield spoke up. Mookie Betts took the wheel, so to speak, and helped steer his team out of a precarious situation.
After Monday night's 4-3 win over the Phillies, the predominant conversation around the Dodgers did not revolve around their taking a two-game lead in the NL Division Series, or another commanding performance from a nearly unhittable Blake Snell. The clubhouse was abuzz about a wild bottom of the ninth in which they executed a wheel play to perfection to change the tone of the inning.
"It's just a really smart baseball play," third baseman Max Muncy said. "And for him to immediately be coming right to me and talking about doing it, it shows his intuition in the game. It's second to none out there. It doesn't matter what position you put that guy at, he knows what's going on."
The Dodgers were three outs away from taking two games at a hostile Citizens Bank Park. With a three-run lead, manager Dave Roberts called on Blake Treinen, who had struggled in the regular season but had made two scoreless appearances in the NL Wild Card Series.
But Treinen allowed three straight hits, the last of which was a two-run double from Nick Castellanos that allowed the Phillies to pull within one. A ballpark that had been rather subdued for most of the night was suddenly rocking. And while Roberts went to the mound to remove Treinen from the game in favor of Alex Vesia, the infield discussed how to handle the situation.
The Dodgers landed on running a wheel play, a drill they rarely run in practice because pitchers not named Shohei Ohtani are no longer in NL starting lineups every day. They executed a wheel play in August against the Angels, but before that, they didn't think they had done it during Spring Training.
"It's just another learned behavior. I've got to give that credit to Miggy Rojas," Betts said. "We did it earlier in the year in Anaheim. I remember asking him, 'When's a good time to do it?' He said in a do-or-die situation."
With Vesia on the mound, Bryson Stott stepped to the plate and squared around to bunt. He made contact on the second pitch, and the play went off without a hitch: Muncy raced down the third-base line and fielded the ball. Betts sprinted to third base, gaining a wide berth on Castellanos.
Muncy threw to third, Betts applied the tag and Castellanos was out.
"Mookie did a great job of disguising the wheel play," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. "We teach our guys that if you see wheel, just pull it back and slash because you've got all kinds of room in the middle. But Mookie broke so late that it was tough for Stotty to pick it up."
Said Roberts: "Those guys executed it to perfection. They made it look a lot easier than it was. And for me, that was our only chance, really, to win that game in that moment."
In other words, it was the do-or-die situation Betts had described.
"I think them tying the game up turns all the momentum there," Betts said. "So if we can find a way to stop it, that'd be great. I just made a decision and rolled with it."
But there were still two more outs to get. Vesia allowed a single to pinch-hitter Harrison Bader before Max Kepler grounded into a forceout, putting the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at first with two outs.
In came Roki Sasaki, looking for his second career save in arguably the biggest spot he's pitched in as a big leaguer. Roberts has stopped short of calling him the Dodgers' closer, but despite it being a save situation even before Treinen got into trouble, Sasaki did not begin warming up until Vesia was on the mound.
"He hasn't gone two out of three much at all," Roberts said. "Just figuring the run right there. Blake's pitched some of the biggest outs, innings, in the postseason for us. And felt really confident right there. And with Vesia behind him if needed."
It took two pitches from Sasaki and a heck of a pick from first baseman Freddie Freeman, but just as quickly as the Dodgers had gotten themselves into trouble, they were out of it, ready to head back to Los Angeles in prime position to advance to their eighth NL Championship Series in 13 years.
Since saves became an official stat in 1969, Sasaki is the first Major League pitcher to have his first two career saves come in the postseason, according to OptaSTATS.
But it all started with a heads-up call from Betts, who has grown into everything it encapsulates to be the starting shortstop in his first full season at the position. While it took more than one player to get out of the ninth-inning jam, it was Betts' quick thinking that set the stage.
"He’s becoming the full package at short," Rojas said, "understanding the situation, understanding the runner at second base. … I’m happy that he called it right there on the field. Because it was the right play with the right runner, knowing the guy was gonna bunt. And they executed pretty well. Unbelievable. To be in the big leagues 12 years, he keeps getting better every single day.”