The Phillies jumped on Max Fried and the Braves for an early lead, and Zack Wheeler was lights out through six. But leaving him out for an inning too long, followed by a bullpen effort that couldn't preserve the suddenly slim one-run lead, all snowballed into the Phils dropping Game 2 of the NLDS to Atlanta, 5-4.
The series is split 1-1 coming back to Philly for Game 3 on Wednesday night, and most teams would absolutely take that on the road, but boy was it met with a straight gut punch before the trip home.
The highlights...
The Good
• The Phillies figured out quickly that all they had to do was wait for Fried to throw them the fastball. Kyle Schwarber flied out in the opening at-bat, but sent the 3-2 heater back to the warning track. Then Trea Turner, after seeing five straight curveballs, squared up on the rising fastball and looped it into center for the base hit, using his speed to stretch it into a double because Michael Harris II coasted getting to the ball.
After Harper went down swinging – again, looking for it – Alec Bohm got the first-pitch fastball and jumped on it to drive Turner in.
Realmuto pushed Bohm to second on a hard grounder past first and into right – again, fastball – and Nick Castellanos loaded the bases with a two-out liner to left on you can guess what pitch at this point.
Bryson Stott, with the bases loaded for him again after his series-sealing grand slam in the Wildcard round, grounded out to first after five pitches – again, waiting for it – to end the inning, but the Phillies left with an early 1-0 lead, a beat on Fried, and 30 pitches wasted already after the opening frame.
They just had to stay patient for a bit longer before they could deal some real damage.
• And by a bit longer, I mean the third inning. After Harper singled on a first-pitch sweeper with one out, Realmuto got a hanging slider right over the plate up 2-0 and crushed it 411 feet to right-center.
The Phillies took a 3-0 lead, and Truist Park went dead quiet.
Fried, after not having pitched since September 21 - more than two weeks – because of a blister on his index finger, looked like it. He never got comfortable, was staying away from his fastball in the early going, and by the time he did find some sort of rhythm, he was already in too deep. Six hits, four walks, and three earned runs allowed after four innings and 90 pitches.
The strategy of throwing one of their top pitchers into the postseason deep end after a long layoff blew up in Atlanta's face again, knowing they did similar to Spencer Strider a year ago back here in Philly, though they ultimately recovered from it this time.
• Zack Wheeler showed up with a flamethrower Monday night, striking out the side in 16 pitches while touching as high as 98 mph on his fastball in the bottom of the first.
He was on, just mowing through the Braves' order through six innings while flirting with a no-hit bit until Wheeler walked Ronald Acuña Jr. with two outs, then finally gave up a single to Ozzie Albies.
Acuña was able to go home after Turner bobbled the throw in from right – his second error of the night – but Wheeler limited the damage there with one last K of Austin Riley.
That probably should've been it, but manager Rob Thomson had the confidence to send him back out there for one more inning, which is where trouble struck – more on that shortly.
• Once the Braves reached into the bullpen for the fifth, the basepaths opened up.
Castellanos singled with one out, then went for the steal of second with Stott at bat. And he not only got there, he took third too after the throw from Atlanta catcher Travis d'Arnaud went sailing by into center field.
Stott was called out on a fly ball to center soon after, but he hit it far enough out for Castellanos to slide home and score for a 4-0 Phils lead.
Castellanos, brought in for his bat two years ago above all else, had 11 stolen bases all season.
On Monday night, he came up with the Phils' sixth of the NLDS alone.
The Bad
• Wheeler was absolutely dealing, but coming back out for the seventh after 85 pitches proved a stretch too far. He gave up a base hit to Matt Olson, then after a strikeout of Marcell Ozuna, d'Arnuad teed up on a shot to left to suddenly make it a one-run game.
The Braves crowd was alive again, the ball was taken from Wheeler, and José Alvarado had to get the Phils out of the seventh with the slim one-run lead intact. Guess it was never going to be that easy.
• Trea Turner had a fielding error in the second that proved inconsequential, but then had the other in the sixth that allowed the Braves to finally get on the board. Just bad bounces on both at bad times for an otherwise stellar defender.
• Droughts with runners in scoring position are rearing their ugly heads again. The Phillies were 2-for-8 on Saturday night and 2-for-8 again on Monday.
Game 1 they were able to get by. Game 2, it bit them. You have to punish wherever and whenever you can.
• The chop needed to be gone yesterday.
• Jeff Hoffman hit Acuña with his first pitch in the eighth to put one on with one out, then let him advance to third on the soft ground out from Albies and a steal during a crucial two-out at-bat to Austin Riley.
It came down to a full count and the payoff pitch. Riley won, sending the ball sailing way into the left-field seats for a two-run homer and the 5-4 Braves lead late. Just a gut punch when the Phils had everything going for them for so long, and that double-up of Castellanos and Harper to end it really didn't help.
Still, they'll have the split coming back home to Citizens Bank Park, and a day and the flight home to regroup.
The Salty
• Monday morning in the sports world was met with debate over both the fairness of the Eagles' "Tush Push"/"Brotherly Shove" in the NFL and of MLB's current postseason format after three of the four division champions lost their opening LDS game over the weekend following an extremely brief bye for the Wild Card round.
The "Tush Push" is falling under scrutiny because the Eagles are the only ones who can do it with near-perfect consistency, and the MLB Postseason argument is coming from the insecurities of 100-plus win teams potentially being one and done after dominating through the summer.
Weirdly enough, these ideas are suddenly put under heavier scrutiny once Philly success is involved, but I digress.
At the end of the day, it isn't the Eagles' fault that the Giants are so bad they hurt themselves when trying to push Daniel Jones forward.
And more than likely the majority of the people reading this watched the 102-win Phils fall flat in the NLDS in 2011. That was brutal, but it wasn't the playoff format then – I mean, the Phillies even helped let the Cardinals in on that one – and it isn't the playoff format now for any 100-win juggernaut in possible danger.
Play better. That's the only real answer here.
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