Dodgers blunders on the bases cost them perfect record, best start in franchise history

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The best start in Dodgers history stays with Brooklyn.

The World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers ran themselves out of a shot at keeping their undefeated season alive in a 3-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night that stuck them at 8-1 on the season.

The Brooklyn Dodgers got off to a 10-0 start in 1955.

This year’s Dodgers can blame their first loss on sloppy and silly baserunning.

“When you give a good team outs and shorten the game,” manager Dave Roberts said, “then it’s hard to win. It’s hard to beat a good team.

Shohei Ohtani always has the green light to run, but he the Dodgers superstar made the puzzling decision to try and steal second base with two outs in the eighth inning and eight-time All-Star Mookie Betts at the plate.

Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto nailed him at second to end the threat.

“With Shohei in that situation, you’ve got to make sure you’re safe,” Roberts said. “Realmuto is one of the best throwers in the game. When you’re down three with Mookie at the plate, you’ve got to make sure you’re safe if you’re going to go.”

The Dodgers are champs for a reason, and wouldn’t go down easy.

Tommy Edman hit a two-run homer, his fifth already this season, with no outs against Phillies reliever Jordan Romano to make it 3-2. Romano escaped on a strike-him-out-throw-him out double play to end the game.

Pinch-hitter Max Muncy whiffed and pinch-runner Chris Taylor was out at second.

“Chris, right there, took a chance,” Roberts said. “Unfortunately, Realmuto made another great throw.”

For added baserunning embarrassment, Andy Pages was picked off to end the sixth inning.

“We hate losing but I think it does go to how we play,” Roberts said. “Giving those guys three outs on the bases, it's hard to win when you play eight innings on the offensive side. That's something we have to clean up.”

Realmuto has now thrown out three runners in a two-game span for the fifth time in his career and first time since 2022.

“The Ohtani one surprised me a little bit just because Mookie was hitting,” Realmuto said. “When Chris ran, I had a pretty good idea he was going to try to run because he's the tying run and he's usually a pretty good stolen-base guy.”

Everything had gone right for the Dodgers this season.

Ohtani hit a tiebreaking home run in the ninth inning on his bobblehead night, lifting the Dodgers over the winless Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Wednesday, giving them the best start ever by a defending World Series champion. They’ve trailed in seven games this season, but they already have two walk-off wins. Ohtani failed to score for the first time this season.

With the Phillies up 1-0 in the seventh, starter Jesús Luzardo an into his only jam of the game when he had two runners on base with two outs. Luzardo, who had his fastball humming in the high 90s, got Kiké Hernández to strike out swinging on a slider to that had another sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park roaring in celebration. Hernández fanned three times.

Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out five and allowed one unearned run in six innings. The unearned run came on his own error. Yamamoto threw the ball into foul territory trying to pick off Trea Tuner attempting to steal third in the first inning. The All-Star shortstop hustled home for a 1-0 lead.

Yamamoto tossed at least six innings without allowing an earned run for the fourth time in his career and first time since last June against the Yankees.

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Los Angeles Dodgers' Tommy Edman, right, scores past Philadelphia Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto, left, after hitting a two-run home run off pitcher Jordan Romano of during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Tommy Edman follows the flight of his two-run home run off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Tommy Edman (25) celebrates with Mookie Betts (50) after hitting a two-run home run off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jordan Romano during the ninth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott tags out Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani attempting to steal second during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott tags out Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani attempting to steal second during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani reacts after Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott tagged him out attempting to steal second during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Friday, April 4, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A U.S.-Russian dual national imprisoned in Russia on treason charges was freed Thursday in exchange for a Russian man jailed on smuggling charges in the U.S., a prisoner swap that comes as Moscow and Washington have made efforts to repair ties.

Ksenia Karelina, also identified in the media as Ksenia Khavana, is “on a plane back home to the United States,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a post on social media platform X. She was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg in February 2024 and convicted of treason on charges stemming from a donation of about $52 to a charity aiding Ukraine. American authorities have called the case “absolutely ludicrous.”

Russia’s Federal Security Service, the country’s main security and counterespionage agency, said that dual Russian-German citizen Arthur Petrov was released as part of a swap. Petrov was arrested in Cyprus in August 2023 at the request of the U.S. on charges of smuggling sensitive microelectronics to Russia and extradited to the U.S. a year later.

Karelina was among a growing number of Americans arrested in Russia in recent years as tensions between Moscow and Washington spiked over the war in Ukraine. Her release is the latest in a series of high-profile prisoner exchanges Russia and the United States carried out in the last three years — and the second since President Donald Trump took office less than three months ago and reversed Washington's policy of isolating Russia in an effort to end the war in Ukraine.

Russian and U.S. diplomats are sitting down Thursday for another round of talks in Istanbul on improving diplomatic ties.

In February, Russia released American teacher Marc Fogel, imprisoned on drug charges, in what the White House described as a diplomatic thaw that could advance peace negotiations. That same month, Russia released another American just days after arresting him on drug smuggling charges.

Karelina, a former ballet dancer, reportedly obtained U.S. citizenship after marrying an American and moving to Los Angeles. She was arrested when she returned to Russia to visit her family last year.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, accused her of “proactively" collecting money for a Ukrainian organization that was supplying gear to Kyiv's forces. The First Department, a Russian rights group, said the charges stemmed from a $51.80 donation to a U.S. charity aiding Ukraine.

“I am overjoyed to hear that the love of my life, Ksenia Karelina is on her way home from wrongful detention in Russia,” Karelina’s fiancé, Chris van Heerden, said in a statement. “She has endured a nightmare for 15 months and I cannot wait to hold her. Our dog, Boots, is also eagerly awaiting her return.”

He thanked Trump and Trump administration envoys, as well as prominent public figures who had championed her case.

Karelina’s lawyer Mikhail Mushailov said she was flying to the U.S. after a prisoner swap in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The FSB said in a statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had pardoned Karelina before the swap. It said that Petrov, who was facing a 20-year prison term in the U.S., was exchanged for Karelina at the Abu Dhabi international airport with the UAE mediation.

The agency released a video that showed Karelina being escorted to a plane somewhere in Russia and featured of what appeared to be the scene of exchange at the Abu Dhabu airport. The same video showed Petrov undergoing medical checkups on a flight to Russia and saying he was feeling normal.

Petrov was accused by the U.S. Justice Department of involvement in a scheme to procure microelectronics subject to U.S. export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier of critical electronic components for the country's weapons industries.

The exchange was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing a statement from CIA director John Ratcliffe, who it said was on hand for the swap at an airport in Abu Dhabi.

An email seeking comment was sent to the CIA in the early hours of Thursday.

Abu Dhabi was the scene of another high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the United States. In December 2022, American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The UAE has been a mediator in prisoner swaps between Russia and Ukraine, while the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai has become home to many Russians and Ukrainian who fled there after the start of Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, June 20, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Ksenia Karelina, also known as Khavana sits in a glass cage in a court room in Yekaterinburg, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.(AP Photo/File)