The boos began in the first inning, when the team with nothing left to play for took the lead over the team that still had everything.
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With the best record in the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays have already secured a bye to the Division Series. Their final three regular season games at Citizens Bank Park were nothing more than a playoff tuneup, and perhaps an opportunity to play spoiler against the Phillies.
The 40,133 home fans were already getting restless when the Rays hit three straight two-out singles against Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez to take a 1-0 lead in the first. The boos became more widespread an inning later, when Tampa Bay’s eight-hole hitter Nick Fortes hit just his sixth homer of the season.
And they really started to catch on when Trea Turner and Brandon Marsh each struck out to end the third and fourth inning, respectively, each stranding a runner. As the Phillies offense slogged along in the eventual 2-0loss to the Rays, boos became a familiar soundtrack.
“Whatever happened tonight,” said interim manager Don Mattingly, “we’re not getting back, and so we got to be ready to play tomorrow. That’s all there is to it.”
The magic number has not budged from two, where it has stood for the last three games. In that span, the Phillies have scored two total runs.
Focus has shifted from who the Phillies might play next week to if they might play anyone at all. The Padres, who are still fighting for home-field advantage for the wild-card series, could help them out later on Friday night with a win over the Diamondbacks. But an Arizona win would bring them within a game of the Phillies for the final wild-card spot.
While the Phillies are experiencing a protracted collapse, the Diamondbacks are surging. Arizona entered Friday on a four-game winning streak.
“I guess I’d rather be in our spot than theirs, because we can still control our own destiny,” Mattingly said. “So I mean, at this point, none of that matters. How daunting it looks or what it looks like. We just got to win a game.”
The Rays only led by two after the second, as Sánchez started to get on a roll the deeper he got into the game. He struck out the final seven Rays he faced. His 99th pitch of the game — a changeup — dove beneath the bat of Jorge Mateo to end the seventh.
But two runs may as well have been Mount Everest for the Phillies offense.
Sánchez struck out 10 total and limited the Rays to five hits. He concluded his regular season with a 2.91 ERA in 207 innings, a worthy sequel to his Cy Young-runner up finish in 2025. It’s out of the lefty’s hands now whether he will get another start this year.
“We lost, so that’s what I’m focused on,” Sánchez said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “An up and down year, with a lot of highs and lows. We rolled through it. But two games remaining, we will keep fighting, and we just have to keep going and try to win.”
The Phillies’ bats only truly threatened in the sixth inning, when consecutive singles from Turner and Bryce Harper put two runners on with zero out. But Alec Bohm grounded out and Bryson Stott and Bryan De La Cruz lined out to leave them there.
NL wild-card standings
Ahead of Friday’s game, the Phillies gathered for a hitters’ meeting. Mattingly addressed the group, but declined to share his message with reporters.
Now, there’s not much left to say.
“We know the situation,” said Kyle Schwarber. “We know where we’re in. We want to do it our way. We want to have the ball in our court, and we didn’t get it done today. And that’s the thing. That’s the reality of situation. And now we move on to tomorrow.”
Schwarber pushed back on the notion that the Phillies are pressing at the plate. The club as a whole has been experiencing a power outage, with two home runs collectively in their last nine games. Schwarber hasn’t homered since Sept. 15 and is hitting .165 this month.
With another hitless night, catcher J.T. Realmuto’s slump has reached 0-for-32.
“I wouldn’t say there’s not frustration. Sure, there’s frustration,” Schwarber said. “We want to win baseball games at the end of the day. We expect to win a baseball game anytime we walk out of the locker room. But it doesn’t matter if it’s a loss in April, a loss in June, July. They all mean the same. We’re all frustrated whenever you come out with the loss. But I feel like our team is well versed in knowing how to separate that, and to come out the next day and be ready to go.”
In a desperation move, the Phillies called on closer Jhoan Duran for the eighth to keep the deficit at 2. He delivered a clean inning, using 14 pitches, and if the offense could get something going he would have returned for the ninth. But instead, Schwarber, Turner, and Harper went down in order, with Harper striking out on a cutter outside to end it.
“We got to score,” Mattingly said. “At this point of the year, I mean, taking thousands of swings, taking thousands of ground balls, guys have worked all year. It’s not about that. We just got to be able to get it done now.”
Tim Mayza pitched the ninth instead of Duran. Boos chorused again when he gave up a single and a walk to put two runners on, but he struck out Fortes looking to finish the inning.
In the bottom of the frame, the offense again went down in order, with a lineout and two fly outs to make it 12 consecutive Phillies retired by the Rays pitching staff. By then, most of the 40,133 had already left. But boos could still be heard.
Let’s talk about the Phillies’ bullpen. Larry Andersen happens to be an expert on the subject. The popular Phillies radio analyst had a 17-year major-league career in which he appeared in 699 games – all but one in relief. He joins Phillies Extra to break down the biggest question standing between the Phillies and a long run through October: How will they bridge the gap to closer Jhoan Duran? Watch here.
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