‘Nobody can change my mentality’: Phillies bullpen passes first postseason test

ATLANTA — Thank goodness the Phillies have their two aces on the mound for the next two games. Starter Ranger Suárez was resilient through 3 1/3 innings, but he walked five batters and was at 86 pitches in the fourth inning.

The bullpen can use a breather. Tuesday’s game was the first test for the Phillies bullpen in the postseason. They passed, but it wasn’t pretty. Six relievers pieced together 5 2/3 innings. They combined to give up five runs, but the Phillies hung on to win thanks to an offensive outburst from the 5-6-7 hitters Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm and Jean Segura.

Over the years, postseason baseball has more closely resembled the kind of bullpen battles that occurred in Game 1. Atlanta used four relievers to get 17 outs after their struggling ace was chased from the game in his shortest postseason outing as a starter of his career. The outings the Phillies received from Wheeler and Nola in the Wild Card series are a rarity, although there are signs that the game is shifting in another direction. Nine pitchers have thrown at least six innings in a postseason start this year. That number was 13 for the entire 2021 postseason.

Connor Brogdon and Zach Eflin surrendered all five of the Braves runs scored against the Phillies bullpen. Brogdon was put in the game to pitch with a six-run lead. He got Austin Riley to pop up on three pitches, but allowed a pair of doubles and walks. Brogdon finished the regular season with three straight scoreless appearances, but he’s still searching for the form he had before landing on the COVID-19 injured list in June. From the beginning of the season to June 22, Brogdon had a 2.04 ERA in 19 appearances. Since coming back from the injured list, his ERA is 4.73 when you include his outing from Tuesday.

Thomson won’t call Eflin the “closer,” but he does like the starter turned reliever’s calmness with the game on the line. Eflin’s last three outings have been in the ninth inning. He had to deal with his first crushing but not back breaking moment as a reliever when he missed his spot against Matt Olson and surrendered a three-run home run that trimmed the Phillies’ lead to one.

A miraculous Castellanos play in right field bailed him out. Eflin will continue to be a valuable arm in the back end of the Phillies bullpen, but perhaps the Phillies mix up their ninth innings plans this series.

Seranthony Domínguez, on the other hand, was at his most dominant. He opened eyes when he retired Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado in the eighth inning of Game 2 of the NLWCS, but the way he went about retiring the Braves top six hitters on 18 pitches was huge. The Phillies needed someone to step up and be the bridge to José Alvarado. Thomson trusted him for a wrap around appearance and he made it look seamless.

“His last outing in St. Louis was huge for him, I think, for his confidence,” Thomson said, “and these two innings today were magnificent. Him and Alvarado did a great job.”

In Alvarado’s last outing against Atlanta at Truist Park, Fried was the starting pitcher. The Braves lefty starter tends to make a big hole on the mound when he lands. To prevent injury — a broken ankle to be specific — Alvarado prefers to have the hole taken care of before he pitches. Hence why the game was delayed for a few minutes.

He heard some laughs from the Braves dugout from former Rays teammate Guillermo Heredia. He’s a high-energy, playful bench player who was trying to get under Alvarado’s skin.

Whatever was said bothered Alvarado, but the Phillies lefty admitted that in the past, he would have let some chirping get to him and affect his performance. After getting three outs, Alvarado gestured back to the home dugout.

“Right now, nobody can change my mentality, nobody,” Alvarado said. “I’m focused only when I come into the game, whatever the situation, I come in to hit the target. I don’t care who is hitting.”

Add in a solid relief outing from Andrew Bellatti and there’s a lot to feel good about with the Phillies bullpen.

Now the question is whether the Phillies can continue to keep the Braves offense off balance. Atlanta stranded nine runners on-base. Dansby Swanson struck out four times and Austin Riley went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

All they need is to win two out of the next four against the defending World Champions. History is on their side. As Todd Zolecki of MLB.com noted, teams that win Game 1 on the road in a 2,2,1 best-of-five division series have won 102 out of 144 series (71%).

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