Give meaning to the demoralizing collapse of the Phillies against the Braves



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ATLANTA – If the East of the NL is finally decided by a match or two in favor of the Braves, Friday, June 14 in the evening, will come out as a splitter suspended.

The Phillies, who already had a 36-2 record as they led after the eighth inning, imploded in the ninth and lost a broken heart, 9-8 against the Braves to retreat to two and a half games in NL East. (see comments). It was the eighth consecutive victory for a Braves team that looks more dangerous day by day.

The ninth round was like a game in itself. Hector Neris, who scored a perfect 14-14 chance in backup opportunities this season, seemed to want to put the key in the pass on three different occasions, but just could not counter the latter shot in front of rookie Austin Riley or veteran Brian McCann.

When Neris returned from 3-0 to hit Freddie Freeman earlier in the heat, he appeared to be on the right track to score his 15th consecutive save. When Jay Bruce managed to save the game by laying bare a bouncing ball in the outside field that he went through, it seemed that fortune was on the Phillies side.

Alas.

Riley and McCann both made a soft and well-placed contact with Neris, center-left, to score the win. Both were at their final strike.

Neris is a responsible guy. He has already held this position before, experiencing successes and failures. When he launches a fast flat ball or leaves a too high separation in the zone, he admits it. It did not feel like being awful that night.

"He had a sweet touch on a pitch that I threw for a withdrawal back," Neris said of forward Riley, who narrowed the Phillies goal to one goal and placed the runners in second and third places with two outs. "He had a terrible touch on that single, I can not control that."

And the McCann AB?

"It was down, it just hit the bat," he said. "Look at the field, lucky for him.But tomorrow, you know, I understood it tomorrow, that's for sure."

When you lose like that, all you have to do is wait until tomorrow. A loss like this is too hard to swallow if you think about it for too long or if you replay at any time.

The Phillies had control for two and a half hours. Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins and Scott Kingery earned three home runs and led 7-2 early in the seventh. Nick Pivetta had a relatively solid start, which allowed only two races in all along the circuit.

But the office, ravaged by injuries and not good enough to win a division as it is now built, has done everything.

"An overwhelming loss, impossible to avoid," said manager Gabe Kapler. "We had a two-run lead in the ninth inning with our best on the mound, Neris has been great for us all year long, exceptional for a full calendar year, eager to get him back on the mound. we have the highest level of confidence with him in this situation.We felt really good in the dugout about it.It's just a devastating defeat.we will be back tomorrow and will be ready to fight again. "

Fans ran to social media to play the Monday morning quarterback, a common event when a big lead is lost. So many people who act as if every decision made by the manager was so clearly stupid and should have been changed. Looking at the choices that Kapler made late in this game, no blatant error caused this loss. The Braves are really good. They do not miss a lot and do not leave.

Did Kapler leave Pivetta too long? Who is to say? You saw what the pen ended up doing. And in the long run, trusting Pivetta with two outs and a man in the second inning in the seventh inning against a hitter he had removed three times earlier at night could be beneficial. The extension to 116 pitches could be a factor of confidence and Pivetta recognizes it after the match.

Why use Jose Alvarez in the eighth? You tell me who you are going to get to this place, with left-handers Nick Markakis and McCann following and striking Ozzie Albies, to follow.

Why not intentionally walk McCann with two outs and two on and throw at Albies instead? Because Albies is a qualified hitter who is 14 years old in 33 (0.424) over his last nine games and could have just as easily defeated Neris as McCann. In fact, Albies was perhaps no longer a threat, knowing that he was quick enough to beat a shot at the infield, and that another march would have forced the start of the encounter.

"This was discussed when McCann came to the plate," said Kapler. "We felt we had the right game, Albies is the kind of guy who, if he puts the ball in play, can beat one, there are so many things that can happen. by the catcher We thought the right thing to do was to let him go after McCann, we did not think this ball was blistered, we thought he had made a good pitch.

"In the end, it's undeniable that it was very hard to watch."

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