Philadelphia Phillies Fall to Atlanta Braves in First Game of Potential Wild Card Round Preview

The Atlanta Braves came from behind to beat the Philadelphia Phillies with a six-run bottom of the eighth.

Author:
Leo Morgenstern
Sep 17, 2022 11:00 AM EDT

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Were the regular season to end today, the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves would face off in a best-of-three Wild Card series at Truist Park in Atlanta. As such, this weekend’s series serves a potential preview of sorts for the Phillies’ first playoff appearance in over a decade.

A mid-September series lacks the stakes of postseason baseball, and, of course, the lineups and pitching matchups do not look exactly how they would in October. Even so, if Philadelphia could pull off a series win, it would give them an extra boost of momentum going forward.

Over the first seven innings, it looked like the Phillies might come out victorious in game one.

The offense could only muster two runs, but when Max Fried is on the mound, you take what you can get. The Braves lefty has been one of the very best pitchers in the National League this season, and to score off Fried twice and drive him out of the game after only six innings pitched is an accomplishment in and of itself.

The first run came on Kyle Schwarber’s league-leading 39th home run of the year. With one more long ball, he’ll become the first Phillie since Ryan Howard to hit 40 in one season. Philadelphia took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth.

Later on that inning, however, was a bit of a scary moment, as Bryce Harper fouled a ball off his own knee and fell to the ground in pain. He was able to stand back up and continue the game, although his knee clearly bothered him throughout. Hopefully, in such a case, no news is good news and the reigning MVP is able to shake it off and keep going.

The following inning, Jean Segura followed Schwarber up with a solo shot of his own, putting Philadelphia on top 2-0. Those two runs were all they could manage that night, but with the way Ranger Suárez was pitching, it looked like that might be enough.

Suárez went six innings, striking out four and allowing just two hits and one run. It wasn’t his most dominant outing of the year, but against an opponent as tough as the Braves it was an impressive performance, and it helped push aside any concerns that the young pitcher had hit a wall late in the season.

The southpaw got some help on an incredible sliding catch from right fielder Dalton Guthrie, but most of the credit goes to Suárez himself. Other than one home run allowed to William Contreras, the 27-year-old kept the defending World Champs off the board for six solid frames.

When Suárez left after the sixth inning, the Phillies seemed to be in a good position. Their best bullpen arms were well rested, and the trio of José Alvarado, Seranthony Domínguez, and David Robertson was coming in to finish things off.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out that way. Alvarado got his job done in the seventh, but Domínguez struggled in the eighth, looking far from the shutdown reliever he has been for most of the season.

After walking Eddie Rosario to open the frame, he allowed a go-ahead homer to Ronald Acuña Jr.

He then got the first out before allowing a double to Austin Riley. With a man in scoring position, Domínguez struck out Matt Olson, walked Travis d’Arnaud, and allowed a two-out single to William Contreras, giving the Braves a 4-2 lead.

At that point, Rob Thomson knew something was up with his star reliever, and he walked to the mound for a pitching change. Nick Nelson entered, needing only one out to stop the bleeding, but it wouldn’t be that easy. Nelson allowed an RBI single to Michael Harris Jr. and a double to Ozzie Albies before finally striking out Eddie Rosario to end the eighth.

All in all, Atlanta batted around the order, scoring six and taking a commanding 7-2 lead.

The Phillies stepped out for their at-bats in the ninth, but all the good feelings were gone. Just an inning ago, it looked like they might win game one of this important Wild Card round preview. With a six-run eighth inning, however, the Braves wiped the smiles off their faces. Philadelphia went down quickly to end the ballgame.

The two teams go back at it on Saturday evening at Truist Park, and this time the Phillies have the definitive pitching advantage. Aaron Nola takes the mound opposite Jake Odorizzi at 7:20 p.m. EST, hoping to even up the series at one game apiece.