Zack Wheeler takes blame after Braves finally get to him, bullpen stumbles as NLDS moves to Philly tied

ATLANTA — For the first 15 innings of this National League Division Series, Truist Park was dormant. Braves fans weren’t engaged. Any time it seemed like their team was building momentum, the Phillies would snatch it back. But on Monday night, in the seventh inning, the momentum shifted — and it stayed that way, en route to a 5-4 Phillies loss in Game 2 that evened the series at a game apiece.

Up until that point, Phillies starter Zack Wheeler was pitching at another level. He made a Braves team that hit 307 home runs in the regular season look lost. Atlanta didn’t hit a ball that reached the outfield until the fifth. The Braves did not record a hit, a run or a walk until the sixth.

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But when he stepped onto the mound in the seventh, Wheeler had thrown 85 pitches. His stuff didn’t look as sharp. Manager Rob Thomson, who was lauded for his quick hook in Game 1, was not nearly as quick in Game 2. He let Wheeler stay in to face a few more batters, and the decision proved costly.

Wheeler allowed a leadoff single to Matt Olson, struck out Marcell Ozuna, and threw an 81.6 mph slider in the middle of the zone to Travis d’Arnaud, who sent it to the left-field seats for a two-run home run, cutting the Phillies’ lead to 4-3.

He was done after that. Wheeler finished his night with a line that did not represent how dominant he looked: 6⅓ innings, allowing three runs — of which two were earned — on three hits with one walk. He tied a Phillies franchise record for strikeouts in a postseason game with 10.

Thomson said he gave no thought to taking Wheeler out after the sixth inning.

“I thought his stuff was still pretty good,” Thomson said. “He gave up a base hit to Olson, and then he punched out Ozuna. He just had a breaking ball to d’Arnaud, one of the few bad pitches he made all tonight. He was fantastic all night. Everything was working. Velocity was good. I thought his stuff was still good at the end.”

Said Wheeler: “We wanted to win both games. Obviously, that’s a really good team. I guess we are happy with a split, but at the same time, we probably should have won that game. I take the blame for that. As well as I pitched, I just let them get the momentum going. And that’s tough, especially in the playoffs, momentum is a big part of it. We saw that last year.”

José Alvarado came on in relief of Wheeler, struck out Kevin Pillar and Orlando Arcia to end the seventh, and induced a line out from Michael Harris II in the eighth. Jeff Hoffman entered in the eighth. He hit Ronald Acuña Jr. with a pitch, induced a groundout from Ozzie Albies, and hung a slider to Austin Riley that he crushed for a two-run home run to give the Braves their first lead of the NLDS, 5-4.

“I think we had a good plan against them,” Hoffman said. “That showed [Saturday] into the first part of today. Good hitting team. They’re going to get theirs. I’ve got to do a better job of not letting that happen. Doing my job.”

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All of a sudden, life was injected into Truist Park.

Arcia, Eddie Rosario, and Albies leaped over the dugout railing and celebrated on the dirt. Riley screamed and pumped his fist as he ran the bases.

It was an avoidable outcome, and not just because of Thomson’s decision. The Phillies went 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position. They left 11 men on base. They worked their at-bats against Braves starter Max Fried, who was recovering from a blister on his index finger, but they didn’t do as much damage as they could have.

“You can’t leave 11 guys on base,” Bryce Harper said. “But I thought we played a really good game and we’re 1-1 going home.”

In the first inning, they loaded the bases against Fried with two outs, but Bryson Stott grounded out. In the fourth inning, they put runners on first and second with two outs, but Harper grounded out.

In the top of the sixth, they put runners on first and second with one out and Harper and J.T. Realmuto popped out twice. Those missed opportunities came back to bite them.

“I thought we had really good at-bats,” Thomson said. “We got his pitch count up really high, and we had runners in scoring position, just didn’t get it done tonight, and that’s the way baseball is.”

Trea Turner’s defense proved costly as well. After making a stellar stop en route to a crucial double play in the eighth inning of Game 1, he committed two errors in Game 2. His fielding error in the sixth inning allowed Acuña to score from second base. Had he not made that error, Riley’s home run would have tied the game, not given the Braves the lead.

“The first one just got stuck a little bit,” Turner said. “I didn’t kill the hop, like we talk about with [infield coach] Bobby [Dickerson] a lot, so that one was pretty self-explanatory. But the other one, I knew Acuña was going to be running hard, and looking for that play exactly. Tried going to cut it off once I saw Nick throw it, I thought it was going to bounce a little bit higher than it did, and kind of skid on me and I didn’t come up with it.

“So, I was kind of prepared for him to keep running. But I didn’t make the play, obviously.”

The capper came in the ninth when Harper walked and, with one out, Nick Castellanos sent a drive to the wall in center. Harris charged back and made a leaping catch against the fence. Harper, intent on scoring the tying run, had rounded second and was already on his way to third. He scrambled back but was doubled up at first base to end the game.

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“I mean, I just took a chance,” Harper said. “Michael made a great play in throwing me out. "

It was too many mistakes to make against the Braves, who won 104 games in the regular season. Entering this series, the Phillies would’ve been thrilled to leave Atlanta with a 1-1 split. But for those 15 innings, a 2-0 lead seemed entirely within reach.

Instead, they’ll return to Citizens Bank Park for Game 3 on Wednesday with the series tied. It is a remarkably similar spot to where they were at this time last year. The Phillies split their first two games of the 2022 NLDS in Atlanta, and returned to Philadelphia for Game 3 after a deflating shutout loss in Game 2.

They’re hopeful they can turn things around again.

“We thrive after we get punched in the face, man,” Castellanos said. “So, that’s all it is. Good. It stings, and we’ll take it, and make it motivate us moving forward.”