Phillies Rally Past Braves to Force Winner-Take-All Game 3

Late-game heroics decided Game 2 of a thrilling NL East rivalry in the National League Wild Card Series for the second consecutive day Wednesday, as the Philadelphia Phillies rallied for an extra-innings 4-3 victory to force a winner-take-all Game 3 against the Atlanta Braves.

After Atlanta took Game 1 on an eighth-inning three-run homer from Austin Riley, the Phillies entered a must-win scenario to keep their season alive, and their stars delivered.

“I think that you expect close games in the playoffs, and you know that you never know what’s going to happen,” Phillies manager Don Mattingly said postgame. “Everyone’s fighting for every out, every at-bat. … You’re seeing the best of their best, so you expect good games.”

Both teams have overcome mistakes throughout the series, and Wednesday was Philadelphia’s turn.

Bryce Harper misplayed a fly ball in the seventh inning, breaking a 1-1 tie and allowing two Atlanta runs to give the Braves a 3-1 advantage. But Harper had a chance to atone one inning later, as he and Kyle Schwarber launched back-to-back home runs to tie the game and send it to extra innings.

“I don’t worry about Bryce,” Mattingly said. “He’s been through so much in his life and his career. I never worry about him handling anything.”

That set the stage for Alec Bohm, who launched a game-winning solo shot in the top of the 10th to extend the series another day, but the Phillies may not have gotten there without a stellar bullpen performance from Andrew Painter, who has steadily turned his season around.

“Paint’s really been coming of age all year long,” Mattingly said. “Since he’s been back, he’s crossed some hurdles … and he’s kind of shown that he’s going to be a good one, so that was obviously big today.”

Painter struggled early in the season and was sent down to Triple-A in mid-June. He returned to the majors in late July and has displayed vast improvement. Over the last two months, Painter has had only three outings in which he allowed more than three earned runs. Wednesday marked just his second scoreless appearance of the season, coming when the Phillies needed it most.

“He had to go down and earn his way back,” Mattingly said. “He went down and went to work. Since then, he’s been a different guy.”

Painter’s performance helped the Phillies prolong their season, but there is no tomorrow for one of these teams. Thursday’s Game 3 will decide who advances to the Division Series and who goes home.