MLB playoffs 2023: ‘Sloppy’ Phillies absorb self-inflicted blows, another punch from rallying Diamondbacks in NLCS Game 4 collapse

PHOENIX — After the first loss the Philadelphia Phillies suffered this postseason, Nick Castellanos — right fielder and team id — said this is a team that thrives after getting “punched in the face.”

And it was true, in that instance. They responded to a heart-stopping loss against the Atlanta Braves by winning the next two games and clinching the NLDS.

That was almost true of the team’s second loss of October, too. But what could have been a strong response in NLCS Game 4 — what could have vaulted them to a commanding 3-1 lead and within a game of their second straight World Series berth — slipped away in the late innings Friday. The Phillies were stunned by another punch from the feisty Arizona Diamondbacks, yes, but also from several self-inflicted blows in a 6-5 loss that evened the series at two games apiece.

The Diamondbacks rallied for four runs in the seventh and eighth innings to flip their own bullpen game into a nightmare for the Philadelphia bullpen. Alek Thomas came off the bench to slam a game-tying, two-run homer into the pool beyond the fence at Chase Field, and catcher Gabriel Moreno stroked the go-ahead RBI single four batters later.

Before, during and after those exuberant heroics, though, the Phillies repeatedly laid down stumbling blocks for themselves.

Forgetting how many outs there were. Running into outs on the bases. Failing to deliver strikes. Undoing any one of a series of Phillies miscues might’ve swung the outcome, but you don’t get to undo things in playoff baseball. You have to live with the black eye for at least a day.

“It was just a sloppy game all around,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said. “It’s unacceptable to play that way in a game this big. So we’ve got to turn the page, forget this one and play better tomorrow.”

The mistakes began in the bottom of the second inning, when Phillies starter Cristopher Sanchez lost track of how many outs he had and tossed a likely double-play ball over to first for one out while second baseman Bryson Stott helplessly waved his arms. Shortly thereafter, Sanchez fired a pitch that skittered behind Realmuto and allowed the runner, Christian Walker, to reach third before scoring Arizona’s first run on a two-out single.

A wild pitch in the following inning facilitated Arizona’s second run.

“We have to play better baseball, and that's all there is to it,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I thought our at-bats were good tonight. We did make a couple of good plays on defense. But, yeah, the wild pitches and not knowing how many outs there are, that's just a fundamental error.”

Later, during what might’ve been a huge sixth inning against the weakest links in Torey Lovullo’s chain of relievers, Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm was thrown out trying to advance to second after a single that led to a throwing error and plated two. It’s no sure thing that an extra out would’ve meant extra runs for the Phillies, but it certainly would’ve put more strain on a D-backs relief corps that was already out of left-handers. It would’ve brought up Brandon Marsh — who'd already notched a crucial RBI double in the game — with runners on second and third. It might've forced Lovullo to stray from his desired endgame combo of Ryan Thompson to Kevin Ginkel to Paul Sewald.

Of course, it was the parade of relievers who failed to find the strike zone that left the Phillies truly dazed. The Diamondbacks’ decisive four-run uprising began when Gregory Soto entered with one out in the seventh. From there, Soto, Orion Kerkering, Craig Kimbrel and Jose Alvarado combined to face 14 batters and deliver only four first-pitch strikes.

“That’s how you turn good hitters into great hitters,” Realmuto said. “We’re just falling behind too much and not attacking the strike zone.”

Almost constantly behind in the count, the Phillies’ arms combined to walk three, hit another batter with a pitch and surrender five hits — including Thomas’ blast and Moreno’s game-winning line drive.

“The last two games sucked,” Kimbrel said after taking the loss for the second straight night. “I rolled up in here and cost us two games. But the bright side is, we’re still tied at 2-2, and we’ve got a game here tomorrow.”

Two straight wayward nights for both the all-time great Kimbrel and the brand-new arm Kerkering won’t change the quality of their stuff, but while they both expressed confidence in being able to right the ship next time out, even if they rediscover their command, Friday’s results could cause a potentially damaging cascade of effects.

Thomson said he would discuss Kimbrel’s role moving forward with pitching coach Caleb Cotham, and Kimbrel couldn’t say for sure if he would be available for Game 5. Thomson also acknowledged that the team was attempting to steer clear of Alvarado, their best high-leverage arm, in Game 4 but couldn’t. And now, every Phillies pitcher typically used in late-game situations will be working on zero days of rest for Saturday’s pivotal game — forfeiting what appeared to be a potential edge over an Arizona team that saddled its bullpen with all of Game 4. In the end, both teams wound up using eight pitchers one day ahead of the Game 1 ace rematch between Zack Wheeler and Zac Gallen.

The 2-0 series lead that the soaring Phillies carried on the plane from Philadelphia to Phoenix has evaporated in the heat of adversity that simply didn’t strike them at Citizens Bank Park, and they now find themselves under serious pressure from the reinvigorated D-backs.

“They're scrappy,” Thomson said. “I said that at the start of the series. They're a good team. They can do a lot of different things. They can put pressure on you. You have to alleviate that pressure by throwing strikes, not giving them extra outs and handling the baseball on defense.”

The conditions will only get tougher now, as the NLCS resets into a best-of-three. Both teams have taken punches. And as the Phillies will tell you, October isn’t the time to dwell on the bruising moments. It’s the time to use them as fuel.

“Show up tomorrow with a smile on your face,” Marsh said, “ready to go to work.”