Philadelphia Phillies Fall to Braves Despite Late Rally
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The Philadelphia Phillies were on a roll. They had won three in a row and had reclaimed the second National League Wild Card position. But that came to a grinding halt on Saturday in a 6-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
For five innings the Phillies were baffled by Braves starter Kyle Wright as they were unable to record a hit. During that time, Philadelphia's starter Bailey Falter imploded. He allowed six earned runs in 3.2 innings of work, a far cry from his previous six starts in which he pitched 34.1 innings and allowed just nine earned runs, a 2.36 ERA.
But thankfully the Phillies bullpen would settle things down and not allow another run to cross the plate for Atlanta all night. Andrew Bellatti, Connor Brogdon, Seranthony Domínguez, David Robertson, and Zach Eflin combined for 5.1 innings of no-run work.
Philadelphia did show signs of life offensively in the sixth though when Rhys Hoskins lined a double that broke-up Wright's no-hit bid. Immediately after that Bryce Harper, who has been in a terrible slump, walked up to the plate and blasted a two-run shot to left-center to make 6-2.
Life had returned to this lineup.
Then in the seventh, Philadelphia was able to manufacture another run thanks to a timely error, good base running, and ultimately a Nick Maton sacrifice fly that scorde Brandon Marsh. However, that 6-3 score line after the seventh would hold for the rest of the evening.
For as good as the Phillies had been in the previous week, they were nowhere to be found until the sixth inning. In the same vein, for as good as Falter has been all September, his implosion marked one of his worst starts of the season.
Philadelphia will try again on Saturday afternoon as they send Kyle Gibson to the mound. He is looking to get back on track following a disaster of his own in his previous start in which he allowed seven earned runs in 5.0 innings.
Charlie Morton (9-6, 4.09 ERA) will get the start for Atlanta.
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