The Philadelphia Phillies were six outs away from boarding a chartered flight Wednesday, headed home for the winter, facing perhaps the most tumultuous offseason in nearly a decade.
Interim manager Don
Mattingly surely would be fired, with calls immediately placed to Alex Cora to replace him. Many of his coaches would be dismissed along with them. And the roster could be facing a dramatic change, with some of the Phillies’ biggest stars perhaps being placed on the trade block.
Then, like a thunderbolt coming down the sky, it happened, turning a 3-1, eighth-inning deficit into a dramatic 4-3 Phillies victory over Atlanta, saving their season, and setup up a dramatic winner-take-all game Thursday at Truist Park.
The Phillies, who nearly suffered one of the greatest collapses in baseball history, losing 14 of 23 games and almost coughed up a four-game lead with five remaining, are now guaranteed to play in October after all.
The Phillies’ comeback began when Atlanta starter Tyler Mahle came out of the game after seven brilliant innings, bringing in left-handed reliever Dylan Lee.
Kyle Schwarber, who hit 45 homers during the season, greeted Lee by hitting a 3-and-2 slider that nearly sailed out of the stadium, traveling 447 feet into the right-field seats.
Three pitches later, Bryce Harper, who botched a fly ball in right field in the seventh inning that led to two runs, hit another slider 418 feet away into the right-center-field seats.
Tie game.
“That’s why this team is so great," Harper told reporters after the game. “We pick each other up when we need to. ... Obviously my teammates picking me up in that situation, and that's what it's all about.
Two innings later, Alec Bohm hit a two-out homer into the right-field seats, with rookie Andrew Painter, who had been sent to the minors with a 7.06 ERA this summer, pitching the final three innings for the victory and the game ending on a successful ABS challenge.
“Obviously, we’re not going to quit," Bohm said on the TV postgame show. “They just punched us, took the lead, and you know, no two better guys to punch back than [Harper] and Kyle. So yeah, that was pretty electric. It was a great way to answer, and that’s the reason we won the game."
It will go down as one of the greatest postseason games in Phillies history, and Thursday’s result may determine just how long it will be remembered.
“Today was really emotional, a lot of swings in the game,’’ Bohm said. “So, I think as much as we want to enjoy this for a little bit, it's the same as we did [Tuesday]. Turn the page, move on to tomorrow, and show up ready to do the same thing.’’
The Phillies are still alive.
And there’s nothing they’d love than to board a flight Thursday night to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers in the NL Division Series in a rematch of a year ago.
They’re not ready to go home.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Phillies never say die with dramatic comeback to stay alive vs Braves
