ATLANTA – The first 15 innings of the NLDS couldn’t have gone much better for the Phillies.
After upsetting the Braves in Game 1, they led by four runs in the sixth inning of Game 2.
They had their ace on the mound and a loaded bullpen behind them. They had shut out the best offense in baseball, one of the best lineups the MLB has ever seen.
Then everything dissolved.
Zack Wheeler gave up a two-run home run to the last batter he faced, Travis d’Arnaud, with one out in the seventh inning.
Jose Alvarado came into the game and struck out three straight before being subbed out for right-hander Jeff Hoffman, who was at the top of Atlanta’s lineup. Hoffman hit Ronald Acuña Jr. with a pitch, triggered a groundout by Ozzie Albies and took a 2-1 lead against Austin Riley. Hoffman needed one more hit to end the eighth inning with the Phillies ahead, but Riley counted it all and hit an 89-mph slider that caught too much plate over the wall in left field for a home run to be possible.
The game ended with Nick Castellanos drilling a ball deep into right center that Michael Harris II jumped to catch against the wall. He fired back into the infield and the Braves doubled to Bryce Harper from first base to end the game.
In Game 2 of the NLDS, the lead was blown 4-0. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? The same thing happened to Cliff Lee and the Phillies in Game 2 of the 2011 NLDS against the Cardinals, a series they lost in heartbreaking fashion.
Hoffman has been so good this season, a key takeaway from the Phillies’ front office, who signed him to a minor league contract in opening week. He posted a 2.41 ERA in 54 appearances and earned the trust of manager Rob Thomson as a right-handed mid-inning reliever. Almost half of his appearances came in “dirty innings” with men on base. He always managed to overcome these problems.
The only runs Hoffman has allowed since August 25 have been in Atlanta. He found himself in a similar situation on September 20 against the top-ranked Braves, and the Phillies also lost an eighth-inning lead that night when Albies and Riley overwhelmed him.
It spoiled a dominant start by Wheeler, who didn’t hit the Braves for 5⅔ innings and didn’t let a ball out of the infield until the fifth inning. He achieved a playoff career high of 10.
It’s been a season full of déjà vu moments for the Phils. A slow start. A low point just before Memorial Day. A turning point in June. A rise in the second half. A wildcard round sweep. A Game 1 victory in Atlanta over a team that has won more than 100 games.
One detail the Phillies hoped would go differently was Game 2. They were shut out in the same spot a year ago, with Wheeler on the mound and a chance to send the Braves to the brink of elimination.
Now they go home with a 1-1 draw, just like they did in 2022 when they won the NLDS in four games.
By the end of Monday’s first inning, they had more runs and hits behind Wheeler than they had in the second game last year. Trea Turner doubled and scored on a single by Alec Bohm, then the Phillies loaded the bases with singles by JT Realmuto and Castellanos before Atlanta left-hander Max Fried escaped.
Realmuto continued to extend the lead and further beat the crowd in the third inning with a two-run home run from opposite field through the Braves’ bullpen.
The fourth run scored when Castellanos singled, stole second, advanced to third on d’Arnaud’s missed throw and scored on a sacrifice fly by Bryson Stott. The Phillies are roaring in the postseason. They are 9-for-10 stealing bases in four playoff games and 7-for-8 in the NLDS alone. They have gained five additional bases by immediately responding to pitches in the dirt.
It looked like the combination of starting pitching, small ball and timely home runs would put them in commanding position as the series moved to Philadelphia. Instead, they board the flight home with just one break, a result that may have sounded satisfactory at the start of the series but will not go down well considering they were about to have the plane land on Monday night.