Phillies season ends in Game 3 loss to the Braves; NBC analyst's terrible prediction; live updates

NBC analyst John Kruk: "People are going to say the Braves wanted it more... The Phillies battled, but they just got beat by a better team."

NBC Sports Philadelphia's Ricky Bottalico: "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 [and a] lot of things didn't come to fruition. This is a team that it may have been their last chance as is."

Jayson Stark, The Athletic: "Watching Otto Kemp make the last out of a postseason series sends a fitting message to Phillies management. Depth. They’ve had way too little of it in every aspect of their roster construction. With an aging roster, that can’t happen again.

ATLANTA – The Braves aren't messing around.

Despite holding a four-run lead, they brought in ace Chris Sale with two out in the eighth inning to face Bryce Harper. And Sale struck out Harper on four pitches, the last of which was so far outside that it was in the right-handed batter's box.

The ball skipped away from catcher Drake Baldwin, but Harper didn't run immediately and was thrown out at first base.

ATLANTA – It took three games, but we finally got the long-awaited Bryce Harper-Robert Suarez postseason rematch.

Harper took Suarez deep in Game 5 of the 2023 NL Championship Series for his famous pennant-clinching "Bedlam at the Bank" homer. And when they met again in the sixth inning here, Harper roped a double into the right-field corner.

Of course, the Phillies were trailing by five runs at the time.

While the Atlanta Braves jumped out to the early lead, NBC analyst and former NL MVP Joey Votto offered words of optimism with Phillies ace Zack Wheeler on the mound.

"As good as Zack Wheeler looks, this game is as in play as it gets," Votto said during the broadcast. "I do not see the Braves scoring any more runs the rest of the way."

Four pitches later, Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies crushed a Wheeler fastball over the wall in right-center field, extending the Braves' lead to 5-0.

ATLANTA – It's fair to wonder, especially now, about the potential toll that pitching on two days' rest took on Aaron Nola.

Nola, starting on full rest in Game 3, exhibited none of his typical precision command in lasting only 1 ⅔ innings. Ten of his first 13 pitches were balls. J.T. Realmuto wanted the 14th pitch low and away. It ran back over the plate for a three-run homer to Michael Harris II.

Last Saturday, in their desperation to clinch a wild-card spot before the last game of the season, the Phillies started Nola on two days' rest. He lasted only one inning in a loss.

ATLANTA — Justin Crawford’s father, Carl, was six years into his career before he got his first taste of postseason baseball.

Carl Crawford debuted for Tampa Bay in 2002, but didn’t play his first game in October until 2008. Fans of his son’s team know well how that story ended: with the Phillies beating the Rays in five games in the World Series, and a parade down Broad Street.

Justin, 23, didn’t have to wait nearly that long. His first experience in the postseason is coming in his rookie year. He started in Wednesday’s Game 2 and is also in the lineup against Atlanta for Game 3, batting ninth and playing center field.

ATLANTA -- A couple of hours before game time, Phillies manager Don Mattingly and Braves counterpart Walt Weiss both used the same phrase when addressing questions about the availability of certain pitchers in Thursday night’s decisive Game 3.

“I’d say all hands on deck today,” Mattingly said when asked if Zack Wheeler will be available in the bullpen on three days' rest.

It’s a somewhat ironic choice of words for Mattingly, given the number of Phillies relievers he seems determined to avoid using.

ATLANTA — Jhoan Duran's availability to pitch in the Phillies' win-or-go-home Game 3 of the wild-card series will be determined in the same way that it was for Game 2.

Duran will play catch and report back on how he feels.

"I'm expecting him to be good," interim manager Don Mattingly said here Thursday in a pregame meeting with reporters.

ATLANTA — Remember when Brandon Marsh started in right field for the National League in the All-Star Game?

Three months later, he isn't in the Phillies' lineup for an elimination game.

Amid a deep second-half slump, Marsh fell into a platoon in which he typically starts only against right-handed pitchers. But he will begin Game 3 of the wild-card series on the bench here Thursday night, even though Braves lefty Ray Kerr is an opener and expected to pitch only a few innings.

The Phillies have Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler lined up Thursday to face the Braves in Game 3, a game that seemed unlikely to be played when Bryce Harper lost that fly ball in the afternoon sun. But we know what happened next. Atta’ boy, Harper.

Now the Phils have every advantage to become just the fourth team in the new postseason format to win a wild-card series after dropping Game 1.

The key to winning this series was forcing a third game as Atlanta entered the playoffs unsure who would be its third starter. They’ll use Ray Kerr, a reliever who returned in August from Tommy John surgery, as an opener likely followed by Grant Holmes as a bulk reliever.

The Phillies’ Game 2 win over the Braves was a lot of different things.

It was playoff baseball at its finest, not to mention its most hazardous to a fan’s cardiac health. It was a showcase: of the razor-thin margins that will determine which of these two teams advances, and of the strengths that once again have the Phillies on the verge of an NLDS berth.

Mostly, though, Game 2 was a story. First, of failure. Then, of overcoming it.

ATLANTA — Alec Bohm sat behind a microphone for what could have been the last time as a Phillie on Wednesday morning, and he reflected on his 6½ seasons in the majors as a Phillie, supporting rosters dotted with future Hall of Famers. He will be a free agent this winter, and his inconsistent play combined with his occasional truculence have led to assumptions that he will be moving on.

Then, five hours later, Bohm, hitting in the No. 4 spot, rocked the winning home run in the 10th inning of Game 2 of the wild-card series against the Braves. The Phillies took a 4-3 lead, which held up in the bottom of the inning as rookie Andrew Painter dealt the third of his three scoreless innings, and the season was saved.

With it, Bohm might have saved his future in Philadelphia and erased some of the less jubilant moments of his past.

ATLANTA — Facing their third elimination game in five days, the Phillies will hand the ball to their longest-tenured player.

Aaron Nola will start Thursday night in Game 3 of the best-of-three wild-card series, according to a major league source. The Phillies had not yet announced a starter.

Nola will be on full rest four days after starting on only two days’ rest and lasting only one inning in a desperate gambit to clinch a playoff spot last Saturday night. But the Phillies will take an “all hands on deck” approach to their pitching plan, interim manager Don Mattingly said Wednesday.

The Atlanta Braves are turning to lefty Ray Kerr as their Game 3 starter.

Kerr, a reliever who returned in August from Tommy John surgery, as an opener likely followed by Grant Holmes as a bulk reliever.

And we thought Don Mattingly’s options were limited this postseason.

Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly was picked apart after Game 1, so how about the Braves not using Robert Suarez in Game 2?

Suarez returned from the injured list in September and pitched twice in the season’s final week before being added to the postseason roster. He was lights out as Atlanta’s setup man before injuring his elbow in June and his velocity last week was about where it was preinjury.

So how does Suarez — who the Braves signed before the season to a three-year contract worth $45 million — not get used in Game 2?

The winner of Game 3 between the Phillies and Atlanta Braves will punch a ticket to the National League divisional series to face the No. 2 seed Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Phillies went 2-4 against the defending World Series champs this season, though the last time the two teams faced off was way back in July. It would also be a replay of last year's NLDS, which the Dodgers handily won 3-1.

Here is the NLDS schedule:

The Phillies face the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of their National League wild-card series Thursday night. The winner moves on to the National League divisional series, the loser's season is over, and everyone will have to stay up late.

With the three other wild-card series already decided, first pitch of Game 3 between the Phillies and Braves Thursday night is scheduled for 8:15 p.m.

NBC will once again broadcast the game, with John Kruk in the booth alongside play-by-play announcer Matt Vasgersian and fellow analyst C.J. Nitkowski. Joey Votto is back as the on-field analyst, while Ashley ShahAhmadi will report from Truist Park.