Torey Lovullo did not wait for the final out at Petco Park to say goodbye. When he walked to the mound in the seventh to take the ball from Justin Martinez, Philadelphia had already finished a 7-3 win over Tampa Bay. The National League's last wild-card berth was gone.
Lovullo put an arm around Geraldo Perdomo, hugged Ketel Marte, and comforted the infielders who still had innings left in a game that no longer mattered, MLB.com's Steve Gilbert reported.
Arizona's eventual 9-4 loss to San Diego became what Gilbert called a footnote. The Diamondbacks (86-76) had needed their own win and a Phillies defeat. Neither arrived.
Philadelphia was already up 4-0 early, AFP and Field Level Media roundups noted, and never handed Arizona's scoreboard-watchers a real opening. Zack Wheeler worked six innings of one-run ball; Kyle Schwarber drove in two; Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa homered. The Phillies snapped a four-game skid and booked a wild-card trip to Atlanta starting Tuesday.
One game short, again
After the clubhouse door closed, Lovullo told a group with long faces that the effort did not need shame attached to it. "It was a really special group," he said, per Gilbert. "We played hard for every inning of every game, and we came up one game short, or a couple games short. And it's happened in the past, we've come close."
They have. The 2023 World Series run still sits as the recent high-water mark; the winters since have ended with the same late-September tension and a thinner October. Nolan Arenado pointed at Saturday's 10-7 bullpen-game loss in San Diego as the spark Philadelphia needed.
"Philly probably felt a little extra life," Arenado said about that defeat, again via MLB.com. Corbin Carroll refused to pin the miss on one afternoon or one week. "I thought we played pretty well in September this year," he said.
"I think the record was pretty solid, so I think just over the course of 162 games, it's hard to pin on a game, or a week, it's just kind of the totality of it. We just have to play better."
What the 86-win ledger shows
Arizona led the majors with 47 comeback wins, Gilbert noted, a habit that made late deficits feel temporary for much of the year. Injuries cut the other way. Closer A.J.
Puk never pitched an inning after a setback from Tommy John recovery. Ace Corbin Burnes, back from the same surgery only in September, made three starts and was scratched from Saturday's start with a shoulder issue. The rotation that was supposed to stabilize for October never fully arrived.
