2022 MLB Playoffs: Phillies strike first, hold on to take Game 1 from Braves

By Jake Mintz
FOX Sports MLB Writer

Nineteen days ago, the Braves and Phillies squared off at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Atlanta’s Max Fried took a tough 1-0 loss as Philadelphia starter Ranger Suarez kept the Braves’ bats silent in a superb, six-inning start.

On Tuesday in Game 1 of the NLDS, those same two starters squared off yet again. A different venue, a completely different style of ballgame, but the same one-run victory for the Phillies. Despite a valiant late charge by the Braves, who put up three runs in the ninth against Philly closer Zach Eflin, the Phillies survived by the skin of their teeth to take a shocking, 7-6 win on the road at Truist Park.

Philly struck early against Fried, peppering the All-Star with six runs on eight hits, the last of which — a line-drive double from Rhys Hoskins — bounced the lefty starter after just 3⅓ innings. Fried, who pitched Atlanta to a World Series championship in the club’s most recent postseason, struggled to get ahead of Philly’s hitters all afternoon and took himself an early scrub-a-dub as a result. It was the shortest outing of Fried’s spectacular season and the fewest strikeouts (two) he has recorded in a start since May 2021.

The Phillies added a few more against Atlanta’s B-team relievers on a Nick Castellanos single in the fourth and a Matt Vierling sac fly in the fifth, pulling ahead 7-1. Despite being a team that typically relies on the long ball to score, the Phillies put up seven without hitting anything over the fence, marking the third-most they’ve scored in a homer-less game in 2022.

Atlanta crawled back in the middle innings after bouncing Suarez from the game in the fourth. Philly’s bullpen isn’t exactly the most shut-down bunch, and the Braves took advantage, plating two in the fifth on a Travis d’Arnaud double to make it 7-3. The score stayed there until the ninth, when Matt Olson ripped an Eflin sinker over the wall in dead center with two men on to trim the deficit to one.

Despite a raucous Braves crowd, Eflin was able to settle himself and retire William Contreras on a masterful diving grab by Castellanos and a harmless d’Arnaud bounder to shortstop. All season, the Phillies bullpen has bent but not broken, and now they get to return home with a split at the very least.

Alec Bohm on how the Phillies were able to beat the Braves in Game 1

Ken Rosenthal talks to the Phillies’ Alec Bohm after his team’s Game 1 win over the Braves about how they were able to come out on top.

What went right for the Phillies: Early-count hacks and two-out knocks

The Phillies’ lineup was aggressive from the jump against Fried. In their last matchup with Atlanta’s lanky lefty, the Phillies’ offense was far too passive, allowing Fried to get ahead in counts and then deploy that nasty, bat-missing breaker. But Philly learned from its mistakes and crushed a ton of first-pitch offerings from Fried this time.

Over the weekend in St. Louis, the Phillies failed to record a single two-out hit, going 0-for-16 in those spots against the Cardinals. On Tuesday, they notched four two-out knocks in the first inning alone. Clutch hitting is luck with a bit of composure sprinkled in. Against the Braves in Game 1, the Phillies had both.

Phillies waste no time scoring two runs off Max Fried

The Philadelphia Phillies rattled off four straight two-out hits to score two runs off the Braves’ Max Fried in Game 1.

What went wrong for the Braves: Not capitalizing early

The Braves had a ton of chances in the first few innings against Suarez, who walked five guys in his brief 3⅔ innings of work. Atlanta loaded the bases against Suarez with just one out in the first inning but failed to score. The Braves got on the board an inning later, thanks to a d’Arnaud solo shot, but again failed to cash in on a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the third.

Suarez clearly did not have it Tuesday and was nowhere close to as dominant as he was in his stellar Sept. 22 outing against Atlanta, but the crafty lefty dodged the big blow and surrendered just one earned run.

X-factor: Nick Castellanos

After penning a five-year, $100 million contract over the winter, Castellanos struggled mightily in his first year with Philly, finishing the season with a .694 OPS and only 13 homers. Over the prior few seasons, the 30-year-old from Miami was one of the league’s most consistent and reliable hitters, earning himself that massive deal with an outstanding .309/.362/.576 season in 2021. But Philly is a tough place to play, and Castellanos went from offensive savior to blame magnet quickly.

October is a new month, a new season, a chance to wipe a slate clean and reshape the narrative. And in Game 1, Castellanos began his redemption story. The outfielder went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, two of which came with two outs. His first two knocks, a first-inning single and a third-inning double, came on first-pitch fastballs from Fried.

Nick Castellanos’ two-run single gives the Phillies a 6-1 lead

Nick Castellanos’ third hit of the day was a two-run single that gave the Phillies a 6-1 lead on the Atlanta Braves in the fourth inning.

What to watch in Game 2: How long can Zack Wheeler go?

The Phillies co-ace missed about a month toward the end of the season and was on a limited pitch count for his last handful of regular-season starts and his wild-card outing against St. Louis. Still, Wheeler was able to work into the seventh inning on just 96 pitches in what was his first career October start, the most pitches he’d thrown in a start since Aug. 20.

Any limit on Wheeler is even more important considering that (1) reliever José Alvarado immediately gave up a go-ahead, two-run bomb after Wheeler was removed Friday and (2) Suarez’s short start in Game 1 on Tuesday against Atlanta meant Philly had to use a ton of bullpen arms to secure the win.

The Phils, manager Rob Thomson and the entire city of Philadelphia would be over the moon to return home with a split, but if the Phillies want to shock the world and take control of this series in Georgia, they’ll need Wheeler to work deep into Game 2. The Braves’ best shot to even things up would be to work Wheeler tough early and then pounce on an overtaxed and undermanned bullpen. If they can’t, the defending champs will have to steal two games in Philly in front of what should be an absolutely outrageous crowd.

Many thought this series would be a breeze for the Braves, but things have gotten very interesting very quickly.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He’s an Orioles fan living in New York City, and thus, he leads a lonely existence most Octobers. If he’s not watching baseball, he’s almost certainly riding his bike. Follow him on Twitter @Jake_Mintz.