Phillies

Unfortunately it’s a Dead October After Phillies’ 9th Inning Comeback Effort Falls Agonizingly Short

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 6th, 2025 · 9:21 PM EDT

---

Oh boy. What a game that was. For the first eight innings, it felt like a perverse combination of the 2023 NLCS and the Sixers/Hawks series. You know the feeling, right? It’s the inevitable dread that creeps up slowly before overtaking you entirely and pulling you down into the consuming and infinite darkness.

Except, this time, the Phillies clawed their way out of the hole like Jon Snow gasping for air in the Battle of the Bastards. They mounted a FURIOUS 9th inning charge, scoring two runs to breathe life into a crowd that was deader than dead.

But –

They just couldn’t finish the job. They couldn’t do it. Bryson Stott tried to bunt Nick Castellanos from 2nd to 3rd, and Castellanos was thrown out instead. Harrison Bader got a base hit before Max Kepler grounded out to move the runners, and they just ran out of outs when Trea Turner hit a bouncer to second to end the game.

In truth, the game was lost during a 6th and 7th inning stretch in which the Phils’ star players came up small.

To recap:

• Blake Snell had a one hitter going through five. He looked like he stayed up until 4 a.m. playing World of Warcraft, then slammed a Four Loko before taking the mound to mow down the Phils.
• Otto Kemp struck out to start the bottom of the sixth.
• Turner and Kyle Schwarber worked walks.
• Bryce Harper struck out trying to hit the cover off the baseball.
• Alec Bohm grounded into a fielder’s choice and Turner was just barely beaten to third base by Miguel Rojas.

At that point, you knew exactly what was coming. Jesus Luzardo, who was incredible on the night, finally ran out of gas and allowed a couple of singles to start the 7th. Then Turner couldn’t make this play…

Kiké puts it in play and Teoscar dashes home to give the Dodgers the lead! pic.twitter.com/bNlkugtumr

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 7, 2025

…before Orion Kerkering have up a few more runs to put the Phillies in a 4-0 hole.

The Harper at-bat was particularly excruciating. He took a ball on the first pitch, then fouled off two sliders and whiffed on another. He took a ball on an 81mph curve and then swung at a slider outside the zone and went down on strikes.

After going 1 for 11 in Game 1, the Turner, Harper, Kyle Schwarber trio went 1-10 in this game. They worked three walks but struck out five times. Turner had the first RBI after a Kepler triple in the bottom of the 8th, and that was about it. Schwarber has been a non-factor after putting together such a wonderful regular season.

All told, three guys making $74 million did next to nothing in games one and two. It was the rest of the lineup that gave the Phillies a chance when it seemed like the game was completely out of reach.

That should do it for the Phils, barring an absolute miracle. Maybe the comeback bid gets them going, but they need to win three in a row to advance and it feels like a pipe dream right now.