Bailey falters as Phillies fall to Braves in penultimate home game
Final: Braves 6, Phillies 3
Even Bailey faltered on the seventh day.
Bailey Falter has largely been a quality starter for the Philadelphia Phillies since the start of August, one of the more positive developments for the team this season. In fact, Falter has had so much success recently that the Phillies moved trade deadline acquisition Noah Syndergaard to the bullpen upon Zack Wheeler’s return, rather than Falter.
But Falter was hit hard Saturday by the Atlanta Braves, and the Phillies got in too big of a hole to climb out of.
Vaughn Grissom plated former Phillies’ farmhand Travis d’Arnaud with RBI single in the top of the second, before William Contreras extended the lead with an opposite-field home run in the third inning:
The flood gates really opened in the top of the fourth inning, as the Braves strung together six hits and four runs in an inning that Falter wouldn’t make it through.
National League Rookie of the Year Award candidate Michael Harris II delivered the biggest blow of the inning when he hit a two-run home run to the opposite field:
After allowing just 15 hits and four earned runs in his first three starts of September, Falter surrendered 10 hits and six earned runs in just 3 2/3 innings Saturday.
It took the Phillies until the home half of the sixth to break into the hits column against Kyle Wright, but they did so with back-to-back extra-base hits. Rhys Hoskins laced a one-out double into the left field corner, before Bryce Harper hit his 285th career home run to get the Phillies on the board:
The Phillies came feet away from tying the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With Nick Maton having already delivered a sacrifice fly in the frame, Hoskins came to the plate against A.J. Minter with runners on first and second. Hoskins scalded a ball that looked as though it was going to hit off the foul pole off the bat. Instead, the ball ended up to the left of the foul pole. Two pitches later, Minter struck out Hoskins to end the threat.
In the bottom of the ninth, Kenley Jansen set the Phillies down in order, recording his 387th career save, good for ninth in MLB history.
With the loss, the Phillies see their three-game winning streak snapped, while falling to 83-68. The Phillies are temporarily tied with the San Diego Padres for the second Wild Card spot in the National League. The Padres will play the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, the Braves are victorious for the first time in four games, with their record now sitting at 94-58. They are 1 1/2 games back of the NL East-leading New York Mets, who lost to the Oakland Athletics this afternoon.
The Phillies and Braves will wrap up their season series Sunday afternoon, with Kyle Gibson slated to square off with Charlie Morton in the final regular season game at Citizens Bank Park of the 2022 campaign.
Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance
- Kyle Wright limited the Phillies to two hits and two runs over 5 1/3 innings, also striking out six batters. Not only is Wright the first pitcher in baseball to reach 20 wins this season, but as Kevin Cooney of The Associated Press noted, he’s the first Braves starter to win 20 games in a season since Russ Ortiz went 21-7 in 2003.
- Bailey Falter‘s ERA on the season rose from 3.68 entering the game to 4.21 after his worst start of the season Saturday.
Per the Phillies, Saturday was Rob Thomson’s 100th game as interim manager. Over that period, the Phillies are 61-39, a .610 winning percentage.
Ticket IQ Next Game
- Sunday, Sept. 25 vs. Braves at Citizens Bank Park
- 1:05 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia, MLB Network (out of market only)
- Radio: 1210 WPHT
- Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680
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