{"id":953376,"date":"2026-07-23T05:31:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/953376\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:31:16","slug":"dalton-rushing-snapped-out-of-a-slump-during-dodgers-win-over-phillies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/953376\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalton Rushing snapped out of a slump during Dodgers’ win over Phillies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PHILADELPHIA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Dodgers<\/a> catcher Dalton Rushing<\/a> fought to end his skid.<\/p>\n

He held up on a curveball from Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola that clipped the bottom of the strike zone. He fouled off a changeup. And he stayed disciplined as Nola tried to get him to chase a fastball up and two breaking balls in the dirt.<\/p>\n

In a full count, Rushing fouled off another changeup. And then, finally, Nola made a mistake.<\/p>\n

Rushing hammered the grooved fastball to left-center field, just shy of the Citizens Bank Park concourse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty obvious I\u2019ve been fighting recently,\u201d Rushing said after the game. \u201cThe more you try in this game to fight out of a hole, the deeper you dig yourself in a hole. So I think that\u2019s what it\u2019s been recently. And today it was, obviously, you get a good start to the day, and it\u2019s kind of uphill. Yeah, I wouldn\u2019t say it was anything different. I just trusted myself today.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the Dodgers\u2019 first run during a 9-5 win<\/a> and Rushing\u2019s first hit in more than two weeks. Over the course of nine hitless games, he went 0-for-19.<\/p>\n

Rushing has been the Dodgers\u2019 starting catcher since early June, when Will Smith was first sidelined with a neck injury<\/a>. And the Dodgers will continue to rely on him, with Smith out indefinitely.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stood out is he\u2019s learning on the run, learning on the job, thrust into it,\u201d manager Dave Roberts said. \u201cBut I do think that the last couple weeks, some of the struggles have helped him, and I think they\u2019ll help him down the road, whether it\u2019s at bat, behind the plate, and staying with game plans and things like that. So yeah, there\u2019s a learning curve, but this is going to be good for him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Rushing has embraced the defensive\/pitcher-management side of his job as his top priority. But at his best, Rushing (.812 OPS this season) can impact games on both sides.<\/p>\n

His performance Wednesday was another glimpse of that upside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t used to the [backup] role last year, and by no means do I want to say I wished for this opportunity,\u201d Rushing said. \u201cBut I was making sure if it was given, that I was going to do my best to show them that I could play, show them I\u2019m going to be in this league and play down here for as long as I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rushing provided the Dodgers with their first run of the game with a homer in his first at-bat. Then, in his second, he worked a 2-2 count, before roping a curveball up the right-field line for a go-ahead two-run double.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just saw less effort,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cFor him to come out after a four-strikeout game [Monday] and take a day to reset, come back and take good at-bats, I just saw the downshift. I saw a controlled at-bat.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the pair of hits that made for a three-RBI day, Roberts complimented Rushing\u2019s at-bat against left-handed reliever Tim Mayza \u2014 a tough matchup for the left-handed batter \u2014 that ended in a lineout to third.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing celebrates with teammate Shohei Ohtani after hitting a solo home run against the Phillies on Wednesday in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

(Caean Couto \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, having Will down, we need him right now,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe need him to be the player that he expects, that we expect, and that comes with a mindset. And tonight was a clinic on how a baseball player should play a baseball game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Phillies tied up the game in the bottom half of that fifth inning. Dodgers starting pitcher Eric Lauer, who had already given up a two-run home run to Alec Bohm in the first inning, surrendered a solo shot to Bryan De La Cruz to lead off the fifth. Those were the only runs he allowed in 5 \u2153 innings.<\/p>\n

In the sixth, Dodgers veteran third baseman Max Muncy<\/a> delivered a go-ahead solo home run, his second home run in as many games and 20th of the year. That blast was also Muncy\u2019s 229th as a Dodger, moving him into sole possession of No. 5 on the franchise\u2019s all-time list.<\/p>\n

To put the final touches on the Dodgers\u2019 offensive effort, Kyle Tucker hit a sacrifice fly and Tommy Edman hit a bases-clearing triple for a four-run Dodgers rally in the eighth inning. That gave them enough of a cushion to weather a ninth-inning comeback attempt from the Phillies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing fought to end his skid. He held up on a curveball from Phillies right-hander…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":953377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[84406,1582,276,37571,37572,35123,2442,37574,253723,383634,383632,2961,224,5337,20414,383633,73825,140939,5956,2030],"class_list":["post-953376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-bottom","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-changeup","tag-curveball","tag-dalton-rushing","tag-dodgers","tag-fastball","tag-first-run","tag-full-count","tag-hitless-game","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-phillies","tag-pitcher-management-side","tag-slump","tag-two-run-home-run","tag-will-smith","tag-win"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116967655974726890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}