Don Mattingly’s return to Dodger Stadium turned sour fast. Instead of a warm welcome, the former Dodgers manager watched his current team give up four home runs, while his own hitters looked completely lost at the plate.

Currently with a 29-28 record, the Philadelphia Phillies are trying their best to keep their season alive. They desperately needed to win on Friday night. However, the Dodgers destroyed their ace, Zack Wheeler. Before the game, Mattingly made it clear he wasn’t focused on his past in LA; he just wanted his team to stop making careless mistakes.

“I love coming here,” said Mattingly, per Fredo Cervantes of Sporting Trib. “I don’t worry so much about them. I really worry more about us. Honestly, if we go out, play good, don’t make mistakes, catch the ball, have good at-bats, throw the ball, we’ll be fine.”

Mattingly has a long history with the Dodgers. After becoming their hitting coach in 2008, he was promoted to the role of the Dodgers manager in 2011. Mattingly managed the team for five seasons, leading them to three straight NL West titles in 2013, 2014, and 15. He parted ways with the Dodgers after they lost the 2015 NLDS, with Dave Roberts becoming the new manager.

However, all that past success did not help the Phillies. Philadelphia has been heavily relying on good starting pitching to stack up wins lately. But on Friday, the Dodgers’ lineup got the best of Wheeler, who boasted a 1.67 ERA before the match.

During the Phillies’ 4-2 loss, their opponents relied entirely on power-hitting, taking Wheeler deep four times in his six innings. Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Shohei Ohtani, and Will Smith launched solo shots in the five hits Wheeler gave up.

Wheeler issued only one walk to Ohtani during his outing, but it was the home runs that made all the difference. Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts also thinks the same.

“We didn’t have a whole lot of baserunners tonight, but the long ball certainly came into play,” Roberts told MLB.com. “Wheeler’s one of the game’s best, and so he doesn’t give up a lot of homers. But tonight we had four really good swings.”

Meanwhile, the “good at-bats” Mattingly is envisioning did not show up on Friday. The Phillies’ offense showed a terrible approach. Hitters chased bad pitches out of the zone all night and looked completely overmatched against Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski.

Kyle Schwarber’s sixth-inning solo homer is the only hit the Phillies lineup managed against Wrobleski. The lefty starter’s dominant seven innings accounted for his best performance so far in the season. Wrobleski struck out a career-high nine batters, retiring the side twice, first and fifth innings. He also recorded a career-best 16 whiffs.

Following their loss, the Phillies are 4-13 against left-handed starters this season, per Larry Shenk on X. Apart from Schwarber, the only other hits the Phillies got were against reliever Edgardo Henriquez in the top eighth. Brandon Marsh doubled and later scored on a single by Steward Berroa.

After the Dodgers’ lineup dominated Wheeler on the mound, the ace reflected on his outing.

Zack Wheeler shared his thoughts on his Friday night outing

Zack Wheeler took his first loss of the season on Friday after he returned from thoracic decompression surgery. In six innings, he threw 90 pitches while striking out four hitters, walking one.

“I was a little out of whack,” Wheeler said after the match, per NBC Philadelphia. “Some pitches didn’t get where they needed to be, especially against this kind of lineup. It’s just the combo of being out of whack and pitches not going where I want, but against a good lineup, they’re going to hit it.”

The Dodgers lineup capitalized on his mistakes, launching homers in the first three innings in a row. He threw a no-hitter in the fourth inning, before Smith took him deep again in the fifth. Wheeler woes on the mound ended, as he finished his stint with a hitless sixth inning.

He reportedly summed up his performance as, “It was good, feeling like I should, leaving that outing. That was the only good part of it. Besides the four home runs, I felt like I did well. But at the end of the day, I let them up, and we lost because of that.”

After Friday, Wheeler holds a 4-1 record with a 2.27 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 7 games this season.

As the Phillies look to level the series, Jesus Luzardo will take on the Dodgers challenge on Saturday. In his last start against the San Diego Padres, Luzardo threw six scoreless innings, allowing four hits and 2 walks. He has posted a 4.38 ERA and a 4-4 record this season.