PHILADELPHIA – For the Braves, Game 3 started as they had hoped. Spencer Strider breezed through two innings, looking unhittable. The Braves had names in mind for who might take the ball after he executed his part of the plan.
In the third, the Phillies blew up the Braves’ plan by scoring six runs – and they came quickly, like an avalanche.
The Braves lost Game 3 of the National League Division Series 9-1 on Friday at Citizens Bank Park. The Braves trail the best-of-five series 2-1 and will face elimination in Saturday’s Game 4.
The Braves are 2-9 in postseason series when they lose Game 3 to go down 2-1, with neither of those two wins coming in a division series – both came in a seven-game series. The last time the Braves won a series after going down 2-1 with a Game 3 loss was in 1996, versus St. Louis.
Through two innings, Strider, who made his first career postseason start, quieted a crowd that watched its first postseason baseball game since 2011. Out of nowhere, Strider spiraled in the third inning.
To begin that frame, Strider walked Brandon Marsh, the No. 7 hitter, on four pitches. While facing Jean Segura, whom he eventually struck out, Strider fired an errant pickoff throw to first base that allowed Marsh to go from first to third.
With one out, Bryson Stott won a nine-pitch battle with Strider by hitting a run-scoring double to right field. The Braves then chose to intentionally walk the next batter, Kyle Schwarber, who entered the game 0-for-16 with eight strikeouts in the contest.
Rhys Hoskins made the Braves pay by smoking a three-run home run off Strider. After launching it, Hoskins, who was 1-for-19 in the postseason before that, spiked his bat in excitement.
Something worth noting: Strider’s 93.8 mph fastball, which went right down the middle to Hoskins, was the rookie’s slowest fastball of the season. He had sat 96-98 mph before that.
The Braves left Strider in to face J.T. Realmuto, who singled to chase Strider. When the Braves brought in Dylan Lee, Bryce Harper greeted the lefty with a 401-foot, two-run bomb to right-center field.
The Braves trailed 6-0. That was, essentially, the game.
Strider was eventually charged with five runs over 2-1/3 innings. He only surrendered five or more runs twice in 31 regular-season games.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola held the Braves to an unearned run over six innings. Michael Harris hit a run-scoring single in the sixth inning to take advantage of a Phillies error that negated what would’ve been an inning-ending double play.
