| Philadelphia Phillies | 4 |
| Atlanta Braves | 3 |
10 Innings
Wednesday Afternoon, September 30th
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Series tied, 1-1
Series tied, 1-1
One Sentence Summary: In one of their all-time classic and most nerve-wracking games, the Phillies battled back late with three solo home runs from Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm, all while rookie Andrew Painter was pitching three scoreless innings in relief in this 4-3 win over the Braves.
What It Means: These two teams will meet one more time tonight, with the winner heading to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers in the NLDS beginning on Saturday. With the other three Wild Card contests already over, the Phillies-Braves game moves to prime time with an 8pm start time.
What Happened/Featured Card: The game was tied 1-1 at the seventh inning stretch. Cristopher Sanchez allowed a lead-off walk to start the seventh and then his defense let him down. Ha-Seong Kim was safe at first on a sacrifice bunt when Bohm tried to get the lead runner at second, and the Braves took a 2-1 lead when Harper misjudged a fly ball to right from Drake Baldwin. Harper ran back too late and the ball dropped for what was scored a double. Matt Olson would add a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1, Braves, chasing Sanchez from the game. Reliever Alex McFarlane needed four pitches to escape the jam.
What It Means: These two teams will meet one more time tonight, with the winner heading to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers in the NLDS beginning on Saturday. With the other three Wild Card contests already over, the Phillies-Braves game moves to prime time with an 8pm start time.
What Happened/Featured Card: The game was tied 1-1 at the seventh inning stretch. Cristopher Sanchez allowed a lead-off walk to start the seventh and then his defense let him down. Ha-Seong Kim was safe at first on a sacrifice bunt when Bohm tried to get the lead runner at second, and the Braves took a 2-1 lead when Harper misjudged a fly ball to right from Drake Baldwin. Harper ran back too late and the ball dropped for what was scored a double. Matt Olson would add a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1, Braves, chasing Sanchez from the game. Reliever Alex McFarlane needed four pitches to escape the jam.
In the top of the eighth, the magic started. Schwarber hit a long home run to center and Harper followed that with a solo home run of his own, tying the game. Luckily, we got to hear both home run calls from Scott Franzke as the TV was muted and the radio audio was turned on. Painter entered the game in the bottom of the eighth, and he'd have a "career-altering" outing as J.T. Realmuto coined it after the game. Painter threw seven straight balls to start the inning and then locked in following a mound visit from pitching coach Caleb Cotham. He'd gutsily work around baserunners in the eighth and ninth innings.
In the top of the 10th, following two quick outs, Bohm lofted an opposite field fly ball to right that kept carrying until it had left the park. The Phillies somehow had a 4-3 lead. Painter allowed a few more baserunners in the bottom of the 10th, but got pinch-hitter Dominic Smith looking on an ABS challenge to end the game.
Honestly, this was one of the most stressful Phillies game I've endured in recent memory, and that's saying quite a lot.