Wrobleski Found Another Gear, and the Phillies Never Caught Up

For most of the season, Justin Wrobleski has succeeded by making hitters uncomfortable rather than overwhelmed.

The Dodgers left-hander arrived in the rotation as something of a surprise, piling up wins and posting one of the better ERAs in the National League despite lacking the velocity or strikeout totals that usually accompany that kind of success. His formula was simple enough: induce weak contact, let the defense work and get deep into games.

The version that took the mound Friday night against Philadelphia looked like someone else entirely. If not for the collection of vowels stretched across the back of his jersey, some might have wondered whether the Dodgers had quietly swapped pitchers.

Wrobleski overpowered one of baseball’s most dangerous lineups in a 4-2 victory over the Phillies, striking out a career-high nine batters over seven innings while allowing just one hit and no walks. More surprising than the results was how he got there.

The fastball that spent much of the season living in the low-90s suddenly had extra life, touching 97 mph and forcing Philadelphia hitters into a very different kind of evening. The Phillies entered the game expecting soft contact and pitch efficiency. Instead, they got swing-and-miss.

“The scouting put out a pretty good game plan for today and we went out there and executed,” Wrobleski said. “Will called a great game. There was just a whole lot of support.”

As for the velocity spike?

“Something just clicked for me today,” he said. “It was encouraging to see that and see the fastball play like I know it can. I’m just getting back to being me.”

The Phillies never really adjusted.

Wrobleski struck out the side in both the first and fifth innings, carving through a lineup featuring Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper. Through five innings, Philadelphia looked less like a contender and more like a team trying to solve a puzzle that kept changing shapes.

The only real damage came in the sixth when Schwarber somehow golfed a 95 mph fastball that was practically scraping the bottom of the strike zone and deposited it 411 feet beyond the center-field fence. It was the Phillies’ first hit of the night and their only hit against Wrobleski.

Sometimes good pitches lose arguments.

Other than that swing, Philadelphia accomplished very little.

“We had a great pitching performance by Wrobo, and that’s all we needed,” Dave Roberts said afterward. “The biggest thing was the velocity. I don’t know what his average was, but it ticked up a couple miles per hour. With that, he was getting a lot of in-zone swing and miss.”

Roberts was particularly impressed by what the added velocity did to the rest of Wrobleski’s arsenal.

“When you can reach back to 97 mph, it makes life a lot easier,” Roberts said. “Tonight was probably his best outing.”

The manager also pointed toward something that may matter more than radar-gun readings.

“There are a lot of tests that young pitchers have to continue to pass,” Roberts said. “When you get hit in the mouth a couple times and see how you respond, and you don’t run from it, that’s telling.”

The Dodgers gave Wrobleski plenty of support.

Freddie Freeman opened the scoring by driving Zack Wheeler’s first pitch of the game into the seats. Max Muncy followed with a homer in the second inning, Shohei Ohtani launched another into the Phillies’ bullpen in the third and Will Smith added a solo shot in the fifth.

Four home runs, four runs scored. Efficient, if nothing else.

Lost beneath the offensive fireworks was a subplot that nearly became much bigger.

Twice during the game, Andy Pages and Kyle Tucker found themselves charging toward the same patch of outfield grass with what appeared to be wildly different ideas about who was responsible for catching the baseball.

The first near-disaster came in the fourth inning when both players converged on a deep drive from Trea Turner. The ball dropped harmlessly between them, though "harmlessly" may not be the correct word considering Turner ended up standing on second base while Tucker was charged with the error.

The second incident ended more favorably, with the catch being made for the third out. Still, the exchange between the two outfielders on their way back to the dugout suggested they were discussing something more substantial than dinner plans.

Whether that conversation continued behind closed doors remains unknown.

What is known is that the Dodgers won their sixth straight game, received perhaps the best start of Wrobleski’s young career and watched another member of their rotation take a significant step forward.

For months, Wrobleski has been winning with precision.

On Friday night, he added power to the equation.

That should get the attention of the rest of the National League.