Highlights:
The Phillies dropped Game 2 of the NLDS to the Dodgers, now needing to sweep the Dodgers out of L.A. to force a Game 5
The low point of the game came after a two-run double by Nick Castellanos, who served as the tying run in the ninth inning, and the Phillies failed to cash in.
The NBC Sports Philadelphia postgame crew was unsure where to direct the blame, and engaged in a heated debate over who was at fault for the latest loss.
The Phillies dropped the second game of a best-of-five set against the Dodgers Monday, failing to overcome a 4-0 deficit at Citizens Bank Park. They now face a 2-0 hole as the series moves to Southern California.
The reasons were plentiful: Blake Snell shoved over six one-hit innings, striking out nine. The Phillies went 2-for-7 with RISP, and the Phillies squandered a golden run-scoring opportunity in the ninth.
The Phillies had the tying run in scoring position with no out, but the Dodgers were able to get Nick Castellanos out at third on a Bryson Stott bunt attempt. After a pinch-hit single by Harrison Bader, Max Kepler grounded into a force out, and unexpected wunderkind closer Roki Sasaki came on and induced a ground out from Turner to end it.
After the game, the NBC Sports Philly crew were at arms over how manager Rob Thomson could have handled the game differently, leading to a heated debate.
The subject of much debate was a raucous take by host Michael Barkann, who said that Thomson should have pinch-run Harrison Bader instead of trying to bunt over the slower Castellanos with Stott.
Bader, however, was nursing a groin injury ahead of the game, thus being limited to a pinch-hit appearance. Immediately after his pinch-hit single in the ninth, Bader was replaced by pinch-runner Weston Wilson.
With Bader’s injury noted, the rest of the crew didn’t seem to agree with Barkann.
“He could not have pinch run the guy because he had to hold on Bader,” former Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said emphatically.
With Bader reaching base, the decision to keep the speedy Wilson on the bench to replace him would have been looked upon more kindly if the Phillies had tied or won the game.
However, with Thomson being more conservative and not going with Wilson in Castellanos’ place, Stott’s bunt attempt was doomed before it even began, leading to a blown opportunity to set up Bader with a runner on third.
Bader, who was acquired from the Twins at the Trade Deadline, is who you want up with the tying run 90 feet away. With a .305/.361/.463 slash line with the Phillies, and a .831 career OPS in the postseason.
Wilson was the last remaining player on their bench when he pinch-ran for Bader, and Amaro’s point was that Bader, nursing a groin injury, was going to have to be pinch-ran for even if it meant sacrificing the tying run.
Either way, the Phillies now face a nearly insurmountable hole, and find themselves alongside the Yankees and Cubs as teams who need a miracle.