The Atlanta Braves eliminated the Philadelphia Phillies from the postseason on Thursday night, beating them 6-2 in a winner-take-all Game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park. Atlanta won the best-of-three series 2-1 and advances to face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series, with Game 1 set for Saturday at 4 p.m. ET.
All six Atlanta runs scored on home runs. Michael Harris II opened the scoring with a three-run shot off Aaron Nola four batters into the bottom of the first inning, and the Braves never trailed. Ozzie Albies added a two-run homer in the fourth, and Matt Olson hit a solo shot in the sixth to round out the scoring.
Nola lasted just 1 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs on two hits with two walks. Atlanta turned to left-hander Ray Kerr as an opener — the 32-year-old, making his postseason debut with just 72 2/3 career innings to his name, worked 3 1/3 scoreless innings on one hit with two strikeouts. Grant Holmes followed in relief and picked up the win, working two innings and allowing one earned run on two hits with a walk and a strikeout, escaping a jam on a double-play ball. Chris Sale closed out the game, striking out Bryce Harper among others. ESPN's coverage of the game credited Kerr's scoreless outing with letting Atlanta's bullpen control the game from the start.
A series that swung twice
Atlanta took Game 1 on Tuesday, 5-3, on the strength of a three-run, eighth-inning homer from Austin Riley after J.T. Realmuto had pulled the Phillies within one with a two-run triple in the seventh. Philadelphia answered in Game 2 on Wednesday, winning 4-3 in 10 innings behind a win for rookie Andrew Painter to even the series at one game apiece and force the decisive Game 3.
The Braves finished the regular season 9-4 against the Phillies and outscored them 66-34 across those 13 meetings, a disparity the roster carried into October. Philadelphia had clinched the third NL wild card on the regular season's final day with a win over Tampa Bay, then lost to the division rival that had already beaten it all year when it mattered most.
Reaction and what's next
Broadcasters covering Game 3 were blunt about the gap between the teams late in the game. NBC analyst John Kruk said:
People are going to say the Braves wanted it more. The Phillies battled, but they just got beat by a better team.
John Kruk, NBC Sports
NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst Ricky Bottalico pointed to the Phillies' lineup rather than their pitching staff:
This is disappointing in so many different ways. It's not just because of Aaron Nola, it's because the hitting didn't show up.
Ricky Bottalico, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Atlanta's win keeps alive a wild-card bracket that also includes the Chicago White Sox, winners of their series over Houston, and the New York Yankees and San Diego Padres, who each swept their own series in two games. The Braves open their Division Series against the Dodgers, who earned a bye as a division winner and enter October as the defending World Series champions, on Saturday at Truist Park, with schedule and ticket information posted on the team's official site.
For Philadelphia, the loss caps a season that will trigger a round of roster questions over the winter. Athletic writer Jayson Stark framed the Phillies' final out of the series, recorded by infielder Otto Kemp, as a pointed coda to that larger issue:
Watching Otto Kemp make the last out of a postseason series sends a fitting message to Phillies management. Depth.
Jayson Stark, The Athletic
Philadelphia's front office now has roughly four months before pitchers and catchers report to address those concerns, while Atlanta turns its attention to a Dodgers team that enters the Division Series as the sport's defending champion and the favorite on paper.
