Phillies manager Don Mattingly explained why he made the decision to turn to closer Jhoan Duran in the seventh inning on Tuesday, a choice that eventually proved disastrous as Philadelphia blew a 3-2 lead and lost 5-3 in Game 1 of the National League wild-card series.
Duran made it out of the seventh before catastrophe struck in the eighth as the closer gave up a single to Michael Harris II and plunked Ozzie Albies, all before Austin Riley clobbered the go-ahead three-run homer at Truist Park.
“Any time you lose a game late, obviously it’s frustrating, but in our minds we had our best guy out there,” Mattingly said after the game. “You live with this one.”
Duran allowed just two home runs in 61 regular-season games and hadn’t appeared in the seventh inning this year before Tuesday’s wild-card round opener.
Typically, the right-hander has been used in the ninth inning.
“We talked about it before the game: if we were at the top, we were getting to the top, go seventh, eighth [innings],” Mattingly said.
The Phillies manager said there was a possibility that they would have stuck with Duran for the ninth.
“He made it look easy the first inning and if the second one would have went really quick, I would have just checked with him, if not, we would have went with somebody else,” Mattingly said.
The blown lead had an eerily similar feeling to previous postseason losses dating back to Game 3 of the 2023 NLCS, where the bullpen has gone 2-6 with a 5.58 ERA and has blown seven saves in seven chances.
The loss on Tuesday has put the Braves in position to end a trend that has seen the Phillies defeat Atlanta in the playoffs every time the two clubs have met in postseason play.
Philadelphia has defeated the Braves in the 1993 NLCS, 2022 NLDS and 2023 NLDS.
Game 2 is set for 2 p.m. Wednesday, with Cristopher Sanchez pitching for the Phillies against Tyler Mahle.
