Phillies check one more box that could matter in season-ending win originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
WASHINGTON – The kind of moment Rob Thomson and all Phillies fans wanted to avoid almost occurred in the second inning of Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Nationals when Aaron Nola was hit in the right side by a 99 liner. mph.
Drew Millas’ batted ball bounced off Nola’s right oblique/hip and he went for an infield single to put the runners in the corners. Thomson and Phillies assistant athletic trainer Joe Rauch immediately came out to check on him and Nola remained in the game. With a caught steal and a strikeout, he was out of the inning a few pitches later.
“We came out of this healthy,” Thomson said. “Nola took the line but didn’t catch any bones or anything. He has some skin, he will have a bruise but he is fine. I tried to get him through 5 2/3 (to get to 200 innings) but I told him we weren’t going to get over 100 pitches.”
The Phillies have been locked into second place in the NL playoffs since Friday night, but this final victory checked one more box that could matter, assuring them home-field advantage over the Yankees in the World Series if both teams they arrive. he.
However, there are many steps to take before that becomes a reality and Thomson did not handle Sunday as if it were a crucial game. Bryce Harper and JT Realmuto had the last day off. Nick Castellanos started for the 162nd time but exited in the second inning. Trea Turner came out in the seventh.
“It’s cool to say it out loud,” Castellanos said of the feat.
The Phillies won 6-3 to finish 95-67. It is their sixth-highest win total in franchise history. The game ended with Kody Clemens saving the game, jumping into the left field wall with the bases loaded.
The Phillies have a bye during the wild card round and won’t play again until Saturday. The Phillies will take Monday off, hold a mandatory team workout on Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park, play an intrasquad game on Wednesday, have a voluntary workout on Thursday and a mandatory workout on Friday at the same time as Saturday’s game.
“Don’t be so carefree and think of these five days as a vacation instead of just time off,” Castellanos said. “Stay focused and concentrate on whatever we have scheduled that day.
“I think we know how important every day is. Win today and tomorrow will take care of itself. “We have a group of people who believe in that philosophy.”
The Phillies’ opponent in the NLDS will be the Brewers, Mets or Diamondbacks. The Mets and Braves will meet Monday in Atlanta in a doubleheader to decide the final two playoff spots. The Phillies cannot face the Braves in the NLDS because if Atlanta makes the playoffs they will be the fifth seed.
Nola gave up a home run Sunday to the first batter he faced, Luis García Jr., but managed to go five innings for his 14th victory. He finished with 199⅓ innings for the season, two outs shy of 200. Thomson tried to let Nola reach the milestone like Zack Wheeler did on Saturday, but Nola worked hard into the fifth inning and was eliminated after a leadoff triple in the sixth.
Quiet offensively in the first two games of the series, the Phillies loaded the bases with no outs in Sunday’s first inning, drove in two runs and then scored four more in the fifth. Kyle Schwarber drove in two to tie last season’s career-high with 104 RBIs.
The Phillies went 33-33 after the All-Star break and lost seven of their last 11 games, but those facts alone don’t portend disaster. The Diamondbacks scored three total runs and lost four in a row to end last season and then went to the World Series. The 2022 Phillies were outscored 13-2 to finish the regular season against an Astros team with nothing to play for, then swept the playoffs, winning 10 of 12.
Now comes what is at stake. These guys have been waiting for October since the final release of the 2023 NLCS and it’s finally here.
“I’ve learned that the playoffs are like an animal in themselves,” Castellanos said. “It’s a clean slate for everyone.”
