PHILADELPHIA -- The Philadelphia Phillies will have to wait another day to try and clinch one of the remaining Wild Card spots after suffering a late-inning 5-1 loss in the series finale against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citizens Bank Park Thursday night.
To compound the loss, the Phillies may have suffered a bigger blow with second baseman Luis Arraez leaving the game due to a sprained left ankle he suffered in the sixth inning, trying to avoid a tag from Brewers’ first baseman Jake Bauers. Arraez, the biggest name acquired at the trade deadline by the Phillies, will be evaluated further.
It goes without saying, if he’s unable to play in the postseason, it would be a major loss to the lineup despite his recent struggles.
"X-rays were negative," Mattingly said postgame. "We will know more tomorrow. We'll see how he walks in tomorrow and talk to him."
Andrew Painter had his changeup working all night baffling the Milwaukee Brewers through six strong innings matching a career-high eight strikeouts while allowing just a single run. His lone blemish was a run-scoring double from Sal Frelick in the second scoring Gary Sanchez who led the inning off with a walk.
After the run-scoring hit, Painter retired 11 of his final 15 batters faced to close out his sharp performance on the mound where he generated 15 whiffs with 10 of them coming on his changeup, the pitch that did most of the damage getting six of his eight punchouts on the offering.
"Paint is going to be good. Paint's legit. As long as he stays healthy, with everything he's been through this year, the way he's handled everything, he's going to be really good. I think Philadelphia is going to like this kid for awhile," Mattingly said.
Bryce Harper tied the game with an RBI single scoring Kyle Schwarber who led off the inning with a double. It was the only offense the Phillies would muster. Over their next 23 plate appearances, the offense pushed just five baserunners on base with one hit. It's the second straight game they scored a lone run.
While the offensive struggles continues, so did the bullpen woes.
The combination of Jose Alvarado, Chase Shugart and Tim Mayza allowed four runs over the final two innings putting the game out of reach.
With the loss to Milwaukee, who has the best record in the National League, there's more pressure on the Phillies to win their upcoming series against the Tampa Bay Rays, the best team in the American League although the Rays don't have anything to play for already clinching the top seed in the AL.
The Phillies have their season on the line entering the weekend and the pressure is on.
"We played a playoff style game today. Runs aren't going to be flying off the board. We were playing a pretty good club," Mattingly said. "We have to find ways to score to obviously win games. We should be feeling some pressure, I know I'm feeling some pressure, but it's that time of year."
With a San Diego Padres loss Thursday night, the Phillies will just need to win Friday's series opener to clinch a playoff spot. If the Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Phillies can clinch with a victory and an Arizona Diamondbacks loss on Friday.
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