Braves Beat Phillies 5-3 in Wild Card Opener as Duran's 8th-Inning Gamble Backfires
Updated
Updated · CBS Sports · Sep 29
Braves Beat Phillies 5-3 in Wild Card Opener as Duran's 8th-Inning Gamble Backfires
3 articles · Updated · CBS Sports · Sep 29
Summary
A 3-2 Phillies lead vanished with two outs in the eighth when Jhoan Duran allowed Michael Harris II's infield single, hit Ozzie Albies, and then gave up Austin Riley's three-run homer in a 5-3 Game 1 loss.
Don Mattingly had turned to Duran in the seventh — an unusual move for a closer used almost exclusively in the ninth — because Atlanta's 9-1-2 hitters were due up and Philadelphia wanted its best reliever on the biggest outs.
J.T. Realmuto had put the Phillies ahead with a two-run triple in the seventh, but Duran stayed on after a clean 11-pitch inning and was still working past 20 pitches when Riley flipped the game.
Mattingly said the plan was to ride Duran through the seventh and eighth, and possibly the ninth if his pitch count stayed low, reflecting a postseason strategy of using elite relievers before the save situation arrives.