Decision to pitch to Acuña backfires in loss against Braves

Final Score: Braves 8, Phillies 7

The Phillies avoided Ronald Acuña Jr. all series long. A back issue kept him out of the starting lineup all four games. He was available off the bench Saturday and Sunday.

Then in the eighth inning, Atlanta’s star slugger emerged as a pinch hitter. The Phillies had a base open. The decision was easy for Rob Thomson: walk him.

With the game stretching into the 11th inning and with his spot in the order due up, the Phillies decided to pitch to him with the go-ahead run on third base. Acuña, being the great hitter that he is, pounced on an 0-2 middle-middle fastball from Andrew Bellatti to give the Braves the lead.

Thomson explained the decision to not pitch around him.

“If we got behind in the count, yeah,” he said. “In extra innings, when you’re the home team, the worse thing that can happen is they score two. It’s tough to put that second run on base.”

Another run scored on an RBI single from 21-year-old Rookie of the Year hopeful Michael Harris II. The Phillies got one back in the bottom half, but it wasn’t enough.

After a two plus hour rain delay, many lead changes, a poorly timed wild pitch and much more, the Phillies dropped a seven-hour long game on Fan Appreciation Day.

Their lead in the wild card standings remains at 1.5 after the Brewers dropped their series finale against the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the day. The magic number is 8 with 10 games to play.

…

Kyle Schwarber was selected to represent his teammates and address the Citizens Bank Park crowd prior to the final home game of the season. It’s a Fan Appreciation Day tradition. The new leader of the Phillies clubhouse told fans, “Stick with us and we’ll see where it takes us.”

A few moments later, Schwarber hit a home run that just glanced off the right field foul pole to get the Phillies on the board. His next at-bat also resulted in a home run, giving the Phillies a 4-3 lead.

Before a two hour and nine minute rain delay, the game already featured five lead changes. Gibson surrendered the lead on a two-run home run to Dansby Swanson in the top of the fourth.

With the sky ready to open up any minute, the Phillies needed to either tie or take the lead to avoid risking the game getting called down a run. A pair of sacrifice flies from Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm did the trick and as the next batter Jean Segura was at the plate, the heavy rain finally arrived. Play was stopped in the middle of a Brandon Marsh at-bat.

Two hours later, Marsh went back to the plate with the count 2-2 facing reliever Jesse Chavez. The first pitch was lined to the left center field wall for a double. Dusty Wathan sent Segura home. He was called out and after video review, the ruling was confirmed. So much for getting that oven mitt in.

The Phillies would have liked to have that run. With the bases loaded, two away and David Robertson a strike away from leaving the eighth inning unscathed, he booted a curveball into the dirt that got by catcher Garrett Stubbs. William Contreras scored from home to make it 6-6. The batter Robbie Grossman struck out looking to end the inning.

Gibson’s strange outing

It wasn’t all bad for Phillies starter Kyle Gibson. He allowed five earned runs over five innings. All five runs were scored with two outs. A couple of those runs surrendered in the first could have been avoided if Brandon Marsh did not lose a fly ball hit by Travis d’Arnaud.

Gibson did induce 25 swing and misses against a tough Braves lineup. It’s five more than any other Phillies starting pitcher has had in a game. It’s unlikely Gibson will start a postseason game for the Phillies, if they make it, but at this point, any pitcher with the ability to miss bats can carve out a spot in the bullpen somewhere.

His slider was his best pitch. Of the 28 sliders Gibson threw, 11 were swing and misses. His called-strike whiff rate against the pitch was 50%.

“I thought Gibby’s stuff was actually OK today because the velocity was up, heavy sink,” Thomson said. “He threw some really good sliders at times. I haven’t seen the tape. He probably missed some locations at times, but the ball Swanson hit out look like it was down in the zone.”

Shibe Vintage Sports Notes

• The Phillies finished the regular season with a 47-34 record at home.
• As Matt Gelb of The Athletic pointed out, Schwarber (42) is one home run away from tying Chuck Klein’s record for most home runs in a season by a Phillies outfielder (43).

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Tuesday, September 27 vs. Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field
• 7:40 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: Sportsradio 94 WIP

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