ATLANTA, GA — There will be a Game 3 Thursday night in Atlanta between the Phillies and Braves with just about everything on the line.
A win-or-go-home scenario for each side as Philadelphia, with its backs against the wall Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park—down 1-0 headed into Game 2 of the National League Wild Card best of three series and trailing 3-1 after seven innings of play—successfully landed three haymakers back on the Braves to win 4-3 and save its season.
First, it was Kyle Schwarber on an eighth inning solo blast to minimize the deficit to 3-2 which immediately followed with Bryce Harper doing the same to even up the score, a majestic shot and one of redemption since the 33-year-old superstar had a costly blunder in right field during the bottom of the seventh.
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Extending the inning for Atlanta and perhaps putting the nail in the coffin on the Phillies’ 2026 season as well as any of those World Series aspirations in The City of Brotherly Love, however, Harper was able to step up after falling down.
“Obviously a world of emotion there,” he said of the seventh inning blunder in right, allowing the Braves to go up 2-1 and soon 3-1 on a Matt Olson sacrifice fly. “I didn’t think he (Drake Baldwin) hit it very hard and I realized he only hit 89 (MPH), so I thought it was going to be a pop fly just right at me and then it kind of kept traveling. Obviously a ball I should have caught.”
That. Just. Happened!#LetItFly pic.twitter.com/qtePObgSvZ
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 30, 2026
Many, if not all would stay down and let the emotions creep in, but not Harper.
Not with he and his team’s back against the wall and nearly down for the count, six outs away from elimination.
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And most definitely not after Philadelphia’s left-handed ace Cristopher Sánchez provided the Phillies with all the Dominican All-Star and reigning NL LatinoMVP Pitcher of the Year had in the tank, maxing out to a career high 116 pitches over 6.2 innings of three run ball.
“I waited for him (Harper) on the bench and told him he was bound to have a great moment,” Sánchez, who wanted to stay in the game longer, said via team interpreter Diego D’Aniello.
“He had it. He had a great situation and he came through.”
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Though as much as Schwarber and Harper did, there are no clutch moments in the eighth and further on in Game 2 without Sánchez working his way through Atlanta’s lineup first, among many other factors.
Overall, with six strikeouts on the day, he allowed six hits and five walks, two of which were intentional, resulting in the Braves’ three runs scored.
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“I think that’s the most pitches he’s thrown in a game and we knew we were going to ride with him as long as his stuff was good and he was in a good spot,” said Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly. “We gave him a couple extra outs that (seventh) inning. But he was obviously outstanding today.”
Outstanding was Alec Bohm too, delivering the final blow of Game 2 on a go-ahead solo home run in the 10th inning to lift the Phillies up 4-3.
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The eventual final score thanks Andrew Painter’s dominance out of Philadelphia’s bullpen on three scoreless innings in the eighth, ninth and 10th to record his first postseason win in the 23-year-old right-hander’s postseason debut.
“Obviously nerves getting to me a little bit at first. I was super amped up,” Painter said, totaling 37 pitches. “I was just trying to throw everything as hard as I could.”
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If the situation came up where the Phillies may need him for Game 3 Thursday?
“Everything on the line,” he said, ready to go. “(Jesus) Luzardo would make fun of me if I didn’t. I’m 23; he says I should be good every day.”
Looking Ahead to Game 3, A Winner Take All in ATL
With the Phillies and Braves squaring off one final time for 2026, a winner take all matchup with everything on the line, there will be one dugout watching their opponent celebrate on the diamond of Truist Park Thursday night.
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One team advancing to the NLDS for a meeting with the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers and the other headed home.
Who will it be?
Find out as first pitch from ATL is set for 8:00pm ET.
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