Philadelphia

Phillies

Schwarber singled off of Ray Kerr in the first inning, but never advanced past first base. He then drew a walk to open the fourth inning and was erased on a fielder’s choice. Schwarber also chased Grant Holmes with a one-out single in the sixth inning, ultimately scoring the club’s first run on a ground out off the bat of Alec Bohm. While it was a disappointing showing for the Phillies’ offense, Schwarber definitely did his job on Thursday night.

Nola struck out one batter in the abbreviated outing. All of the damage done against him came in the opening inning as Ronald Acuna Jr. and Matt Olson worked back-to-back walks with one out. Michael Harris II followed with a three-run blast that gave the Braves the early lead. Nola got just three whiffs on 38 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 21 percent. The 33-year-old hurler will now have to go through an entire offseason with the bad taste from this one in his mouth.

Duran was brought into Game 1 in the seventh inning, allowing three runs over two innings and throwing 27 pitches in a losing effort. He was then held out of action in Game 2 due to soreness after the extended outing in Game 1. If the Phillies have a lead to protect late in the game on Thursday, expect Duran to get the call.

Sosa was removed from Wednesday’s game due to a groin injury that he aggravated while hustling out an infield single. He’ll start at third base and bat seventh for the Phillies on Thursday evening. Bryan De La Cruz will start in left field in place of Brandon Marsh. Here’s the full lineup that the Phillies will use against Braves’ opener Ray Kerr to start Thursday’s game: Trea Turner (SS), Kyle Schwarber (DH), Bryce Harper (RF), Alec Bohm (1B), Bryson Stott (2B), Bryan De La Cruz (LF), Edmundo Sosa (3B), J.T. Realmuto (C) and Justin Crawford (CF).

Philadelphia mounted a surreal comeback with Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper homering in the eighth inning to essentially force extra-innings before Alec Bohm’s go-ahead homer kept their season alive. Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola are the most logical candidates, but they could decide to give the ball to lefty Jesús Luzardo as an opener after he went five innings during Game 1 earlier this week. It’ll be an all-hands-on-deck situation regardless of who takes the ball to kick off the winner-take-all affair.

Sosa aggravated a groin injury that he suffered during Philadelphia’s regular-season finale against the Athletics over the weekend while legging out a ninth-inning single. It seems unlikely that he’ll be removed from the club’s postseason roster since that would rule him out for the NLDS as well, but the club may not have a choice depending on the severity of the issue. There should be an update on his status leading into Thursday’s winner-take-all affair at Truist Park.

The Braves grabbed a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh after defensive miscues from Bohm on a sac bunt and Harper on a fly to right, but the Phillies came right back in the eighth, with Schwarber and Harper taking Dylan Lee deep after Lee went the entire regular season without ever allowing a homer to a lefty. Andrew Painter kept things tied afterwards, and Bohm hit a rare opposite field homer off Didier Fuentes in the 10th to give the Phillies the lead. Bohm’s homer was his third in 40 career postseason games. Including the regular season, it’s his ever extra-inning homer. Game 3 will take place Thursday. The Braves are expected to throw Grant Holmes as a starter or bulk guy, with the Phillies likely starting Aaron Nola and perhaps going to Zack Wheeler later.

Sánchez allowed one run in the first and then was charged with two in the seventh after the defense botched a sac bunt, getting no outs, and let a routine fly to right drop for a double. With some more help, Sánchez would have gotten through seven allowing one run today.

With Jhoan Duran seemingly unavailable after throwing two innings Tuesday, the Phillies went to Painter in the eighth after tying the game at 3-3 in the top of the inning and just let him keeping. His first six pitches were actually balls, but he finally threw a strike with the seventh and then the eighth turned into a double-play ball from Michael Harris II and the ninth was a popout. Painter went on to allow one single in the ninth and two with a one-run lead in the 10th before striking out Dominic Smith to end the game. It’s the kind of showing from Painter that has to make the Phillies feel considerably better about their pen if they manage to advance.

Harper singled in a run in the first and then hit the second of back-to-back homers with Kyle Schwarber to tie the game in the eighth after his own misplay helped the Braves go ahead by two runs in the seventh. Harper’s homer was his 18th in 59 postseason games.