The Clubhouse DJ: Austin Riley Hit Jhoan Duran's 25th Pitch to Give Braves Game 1
By Nate Mercer ·
Jhoan Duran needed three pitches to get the first two outs of the eighth inning at Truist Park on Tuesday afternoon. Matt Olson lined a splitter back at him, and Duran caught it. Mauricio Dubón flied out to right on the first pitch he saw. The Phillies led the Braves 3-2 and were four outs from taking Game 1 of the best-of-three NL Wild Card Series. Ten pitches later, Atlanta led 5-3, and that was the final.
Duran was out there by design. Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly brought him in for the bottom of the seventh, right after J.T. Realmuto's two-run triple off Didier Fuentes turned a 2-1 deficit into a one-run lead. "It was something we had talked about," Mattingly told NBC Sports Philadelphia's Jim Salisbury. "If we had a lead, he was going to get the seventh and the eighth. He made the seventh inning look easy." In 61 regular-season games, Duran made one appearance longer than an inning, two innings on Aug. 29.
The seventh was easy. Pinch-hitter Dominic Smith struck out on a 98.5-mph splitter. Drake Baldwin grounded out, and Ronald Acuña Jr. flied out to center. That took 12 pitches, including a 102.0-mph fastball to Acuña. Duran's splitter ran between 96.9 and 99.7 mph on Tuesday, which is a deeply unpleasant thing to see coming.
After the two quick outs in the eighth, Michael Harris II took a splitter and a 100.9-mph fastball for balls, then chopped a 98.7-mph splitter toward shortstop. Trea Turner went after it and had no play. "Out of the box, I thought he was safe," said Bryce Harper, who had moved from right field to first base. "Harris can fly. I don't know if any shortstop in the game makes that play with Harris coming down the line." Harris finished 3-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt and scored twice.
Ozzie Albies was next. Duran started him with a knuckle curve for a called strike, missed with fastballs at 99.9 and 99.6, got a foul on a splitter, then missed with a 101.4-mph fastball to run the count full. After a step-off and a batter timeout, the sixth pitch was another knuckle curve, and it hit Albies in the foot. The call stood after a replay review. It was Duran's 24th pitch of the day. "I think he was starting to get a little tired," Realmuto said. "Most pitchers, when they get tired their command goes."
After a mound visit, Austin Riley swung at the first pitch, a 99.9-mph fastball. Salisbury reported that Realmuto wanted it up and away and that it came in middle-in. Riley hit it 104.6 mph and 385 feet, over the wall in right-center, for a three-run homer. Duran had allowed two home runs all season. "I missed with the pitch and I paid the price," he said.
Riley hit .219 with 19 home runs in the regular season. "Especially knowing how my season was not the way I wanted it, that's why the postseason is a clean slate," he told the Associated Press.
For six innings, this was Chris Sale's game. He struck out nine over 6 1/3 innings on 95 pitches, with 21 swinging strikes. His 100.0-mph fastball struck out Harper in the first. The AP noted that only Sale and Aroldis Chapman have thrown a 100-mph postseason pitch at 37 or older since tracking began in 2008. After Alec Bohm's RBI double in the first, the Phillies didn't get another hit off Sale until Edmundo Sosa doubled with two outs in the fifth. Sale hit Bryan De La Cruz and gave up a single to Bryson Stott with one out in the seventh, and both runners scored on Realmuto's triple, a 101-mph liner off a 99.4-mph Fuentes fastball that Acuña bobbled near the right-field wall. No error was charged.
Jesús Luzardo matched him longer than expected. He had not started in 22 days because of shoulder tendinitis, and Mattingly said he would have been happy with about 75 pitches. Luzardo gave him 77 over five innings, allowing one run on three hits with six strikeouts. The tie broke in the sixth against Alex McFarlane, when Harris singled and Albies tripled off the wrist of center fielder Derek Hill at the wall.
Dylan Lee threw a scoreless eighth for the win. Raisel Iglesias allowed a leadoff single to Brandon Marsh in the ninth, then got a double play from De La Cruz and a fly ball from Stott for the save.
Atlanta leads the series 1-0. Game 2 is Wednesday at Truist Park, scheduled for 1 p.m. Central, with Cristopher Sánchez (18-7, 2.91 ERA) listed for the Phillies and Tyler Mahle (7-10, 3.99) for the Braves. Mahle went 4-1 with a 1.99 ERA in nine games after joining Atlanta. A Game 3, if needed, would be Thursday in Atlanta.
Duran threw 27 pitches on Tuesday, 12 in the seventh and 15 in the eighth, with one swinging strike. How many outs Mattingly is willing to ask of him Wednesday is the first thing I'll be listening for.