{"id":284502,"date":"2026-09-12T13:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T13:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284502\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T13:30:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T13:30:07","slug":"phillies-lose-winnable-game-to-braves-in-11-innings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/284502\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies lose winnable game to Braves in 11 innings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phillies<\/a> had a lead to protect in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings Friday night. They lost all three. Derek Hill\u2019s three-run double and a solid outing from Aaron Nola<\/a> went to waste as mistakes on the bases, in the field and out of the bullpen piled up in a 6-5 walk-off loss to the Braves. With 14 games remaining, the Phillies are running short on time to clean up the mistakes that keep costing them wins.<\/p>\n

Derek Hill is the offense<\/p>\n

Derek Hill loves helping people. Whether it is on the field or off the field<\/a>, Hill is always there. Friday, he helped three of his Phillies teammates cross home plate.<\/p>\n

The top of the second began with two consecutive outs: a ground out from Luis Arraez and a line out from Alec Bohm. Edmundo Sosa then slung a single into left field, putting a runner on base for the Phillies. Bryan De La Cruz then worked a full-count walk before J.T. Realmuto was hit by a first-pitch slider.<\/p>\n

With the bases juiced, Hill found a 1-2 fastball and drove it into center field. Bouncing off the center-field fence, the bases were cleared before Michael Harris II was able to get the ball in. As Hill strode into second base, he did so knowing he gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead.<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s double would produce all of the offense the Phillies could muster through nine innings of work. It would not be enough to get the job done.<\/p>\n

Aaron Nola\u2019s home runs return<\/p>\n

Going into Friday\u2019s matchup in Georgia, it had been 17 innings since Nola allowed a home run. Before his evening was over, he would break that streak and add two more home runs to his tally.<\/p>\n

The first home run came two outs into the bottom of the first inning. Matt Olson connected on a four-seamer for a home run to give the Braves the early 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

Rounding out Nola\u2019s outing in the seventh inning, Austin Riley hit a solo home run of his own, bringing the Braves within one run of the Phillies at 3-2. Riley\u2019s home run was the 34th allowed on the season by Nola, once more tying him for most home runs allowed this season with Shota Imanaga of the Cubs.<\/p>\n

The two homers proved to be the extent of the damage. Nola allowed a baserunner in every inning, surrendering six hits and three walks, but consistently worked around the traffic. He departed after 6 1\/3 innings with the lead and in line for the win as Jos\u00e9 Alvarado took over.<\/p>\n

The bullpen cannot hold the line<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, the Phillies bullpen as a collective has struggled to maintain an inherited lead late in the game. Jhoan Duran took two losses after entering the ninth inning with a tie game. Alex McFarlane had an uncharacteristic blow-up outing against Atlanta on Sunday. Jonathan Bowlan was scored on in four of his last five outings.<\/p>\n

Alvarado and McFarlane took care of business in getting the Phillies to the ninth inning.<\/p>\n

After a base-running blunder by Bryce Harper soiled the Phillies\u2019 chance to add an insurance run, the Phillies went to the bullpen once more looking to close out the ballgame.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With Duran having pitched in each of the previous two days, interim manager Don Mattingly opted to pitch \u201cBig Bad Jon\u201d Bowlan with hopes of resting Duran.<\/p>\n

After striking out Riley, Bowlan allowed back-to-back singles. On the second single, Hill committed a fielding error, allowing DeShawn Keirsey Jr. to score from first, tying the game at 3.<\/p>\n

The extra innings came around and found the Phillies and Braves exchanging one run apiece in the 10th inning. The Phillies also scored the automatic runner in the top of the 11th, earning a 5-4 advantage.<\/p>\n

Chase Shugart had pitched the 10th inning and recorded the first out in the 11th before the Phillies went to Brooks Raley. The Phillies acquired the left-handed reliever with the intent of putting him in high-leverage spots, something the veteran has continued to fail at.<\/p>\n

Raley allowed the automatic runner, Ozzie Albies, to score on a single from Ha-Seong Kim to tie the game at 5 a piece. Five pitches later, the game was over. Drake Baldwin hit a double into right-center field, scoring Kim as the Braves walked it off at home against the Phillies.<\/p>\n

Fundamentally flawed and falling behind<\/p>\n

Whether it is the poor base running from Harper, the rare defensive miscue from Hill, or the failure by the bullpen to maintain a lead, the Phillies are making too many basic mistakes. With 14 games to go, they look less like a team destined for the postseason and more like a team destined for mediocrity.<\/p>\n

The Phillies dropped to the second Wild Card spot after Friday’s loss. While the Phillies and Cubs own the same record (82-66), the Cubs own the tiebreaker. The team still owns a 3.0-game lead over the Padres for the final Wild Card slot.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mattingly told the media after the game on Friday that Jes\u00fas Luzardo has been scratched from his scheduled start on Saturday with shoulder stiffness. Per Tim Kelly<\/a> of OnPattison, the Phillies will use an opener on Saturday against the Braves.<\/p>\n

MORE: Aidan Miller set to return to Reading as Fightin\u2019 Phils make playoff push<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phillies had a lead to protect in the ninth, 10th and 11th innings Friday night. They lost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[51887,76286,118618,109827,118619,69,71,70,8740],"class_list":["post-284502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-aaron-nola","tag-braves","tag-chris-sale","tag-derek-hill","tag-jonathan-bowlan","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-phillies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}