The NL West first-place Los Angeles Dodgers lost their second consecutive game to the NL East first-place Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday evening on what should have been a routine pop fly to center field but instead turned into a fifth-inning leadoff triple by Phillies left fielder Whit Merrifield when 23-year-old Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages lost the ball in the lights and/or the Philadelphia twilight sky.

To be fair, the popular La Habana, Cuba native received zero help from his teammates, who collectively violated one of baseball’s oldest fundamental rules: Point to the ball while it’s in the air to help your outfielders find it, which no one did.

Dodgers right-hander Gavin Stone almost bailed Pages out by getting the next two Phillies batters, catcher Garret Stubbs and designated hitter Kyle Schwarber, to ground out to Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman and shortstop Miguel Rojas, respectively, for what should have been the final two outs of the fifth inning with the game still tied 2-2. Instead, Stone gave up a two-out single to Phillies shortstop and former Dodger Trea Turner to score Merrifield, followed by a two-out double to left by Phillies first baseman Alec Bohm to advance Turner to third.

Still with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (finally) replaced Stone with Dodgers left-hander Anthony Bonda. On Banda’s eighth pitch to Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott, Stott hit an infield single to Dodgers second baseman Chris Taylor to score Turner to make it 4-2 Phillies instead of 3-2.

The Dodgers added their third run on an eighth-inning one-out double to left field by (wait for it…) Andy Pages and an RBI single to left field by Rojas to make it 4-3 Phillies (instead of 3-3). Unfortunately, Rojas was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double, thus clearing the bases with two outs instead of having one out, with Rojas representing the Dodgers tying run on first base.

“This was a frustrating one,” Roberts told Dodgers beat writer Juan Toribio following his team’s 4-3 (and second consecutive) loss to the Phillies. “You’ve got to give credit to those guys for putting the ball in play and taking advantage of opportunities. We had some opportunities that we couldn’t capitalize on. Ultimately, we came up short.”

Ahh, yes – woulda, coulda, shoulda.

On the bright side, the NL West second-place San Diego Padres were shut out 2-0 by the AL West first-place Seattle Mariners on Wednesday, allowing Roberts’ team to maintain their 7.5-game lead over the Friars, so there’s that.

Play Ball!

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