Takeaways from Atlanta's extra innings loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday afternoon

The Atlanta Braves dropped the series finale 6-5 to the Philadelphia Phillies in extra innings on Wednesday afternoon. Here's what you need to know about the contest:

Bryce Elder didn't have his stuff today

The righthander, who was so excellent in his first outing of the season against Philly, couldn't replicate that success this afternoon. Elder gave up four runs on three hits and a season-high five walks, striking out none and lasting only 3.2 innings. He just couldn't seem to get his stuff over the plate, and when he did, it got smacked by one person in particular: Nick Castellanos, who hit two home runs off of Elder, accounting for three of the four runs.

But Jesse Chavez is BACK, baby!

Chavez, out since June after taking a Miguel Cabrera comebacker off the shin, saw his first game action since being activated off the injured list yesterday afternoon.

Chavez entered for Elder and got out of the 4th inning on one pitch, inducing a Kyle Schwarber groundout. He came back out for the 5th inning, quickly mowing down Trea Turner and Bryce Harper on four pitches before giving up a harmless single to Alec Bohm.

Chavez came back out for the 6th, walking Brandon Marsh to open the inning but getting a pop out and two groundouts to end the inning and stranding Marsh. He finished with 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball, walking one and allowing one hit in 25 pitches (16 strikes).

A healthy and rested Chavez has the potential to do a lot for Atlanta's bullpen in the postseason - he was that "fireman" that was frequently called on to get the Braves out of jams with runners on, and no one's quite been able to take up that mantle in his absence.

The offense fought back...

Atlanta was able to chip away at the four run deficit, and did it without the use of homers. The Braves picked up single runs in both the 4th and 5th against Aaron Nola, with the final two runs coming off of Jeff Hoffman and Gregory Soto in the 8th.

The Braves hitters got plenty of opportunities to see Phillies relievers, as Philadelphia ultimately threw six different pitchers in this one. It's some late looks that will prove useful if these two teams meet back up in the postseason.

But Atlanta dropped it in extras

It appeared that Atlanta was going to walk it off in the 9th. Luke Williams, pinch-running for Sean Murphy, stole 2nd and 3rd to put the winning run 90 feet away with only one out. But after Orlando Arcia sent a fly ball to foul territory in right, outfielder Nick Castellanos made the throw of his life and gunned down Williams at the plate to preserve the tie and send it to extras. Philly picked up two runs off of AJ Minter in the 10th and Atlanta could only get one, with Minter taking his 6th loss of the season.

What's next for Atlanta?

Our guys head to the airport tonight for the flight to Washington, where they're set to take on the Nationals in a four game set starting Thursday night in Nationals Park. First pitch of the opener is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET, with Max Fried taking the mound for Atlanta.

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