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It’s All Hands on Deck For the Phillies and Braves in Game 3
By Luke Arcaini
Published:
After a heroic 4-3 Phillies win on Wednesday afternoon, there will be a do-or-die Game 3 on Thursday night at 8:00 PM at Truist Park.
For both teams, it’s all hands on deck.
The Phillies will start Aaron Nola on Thursday night, according to multiple reports. The Phillies coaching staff met after Game 2 to go over all possibilities, and it seems they’ve settled on the longest tenured Phillie to make the start:
For Nola, Thursday night is a chance to continue to re-write a 2026 season that once felt lost. After getting lit up for 8 earned runs on June 29th against the Pirates, Nola had a 6.04 ERA. He followed that up with a 3.39 ERA in 16 starts since the beginning of July. Nola knows the Braves, and the Braves know Nola, that is no secret. Thursday night will be Nola’s 44th appearance against Atlanta across the regular season and postseason.
If I could sit here and tell you how long Aaron Nola will go tonight, I would; but nobody truly knows. Nobody knows how long any pitcher will go today. Zack Wheeler is expected to follow Nola in relief to some capacity. Wheeler, 36, has pitched on three days rest just one time in his Major League Baseball career, which was Game 7 of the 2023 NLCS against the Diamondbacks in relief.
The Phillies’ ideal plan for today is a combined 8 innings out of Nola and Wheeler, and then turn the game over to Jhoan Duran in the 9th. Jesus Luzardo, who threw 77 pitches on Tuesday, could also factor.
Andrew Painter could as well, even though he threw three scoreless innings to close out Wednesday’s win, the biggest three innings of his life. Painter said that he informed the Phillies that he’s good to go if needed in Game 3, and joked that Luzardo would tell him that he’s 23 years old, so he’s good to go every day.
For the Braves, it’ll be similar, but not as much star power. Left-hander Ray Kerr seems to be the favorite to start the game, potentially as an opener. Kerr threw 6.1 scoreless innings against the Phillies in the month of September across two outings. If the Braves didn’t land on Kerr to open/start, it could also be Brent Suter. Grant Holmes is expected to take down a bulk of the innings, but, once again, everything is unknown in a do-or-die game until it actually happens.
Holmes was 10-6 this season with a 3.44 ERA, tallying a 3.05 ERA against the Phillies in 20.2 innings across four starts. Trea Turner has had the most success against Holmes, going 4 for 11 (.364) in his career with a homer and 2 RBIs. Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, and J.T Realmuto each have a home run in their careers against Holmes, but the Phillies roster as a whole is hitting just .227 against the righty.
Things can change, and things may change. But expect to see a lot of different arms on the mound for both teams.
It’s do-or-die. You have to win today to get to tomorrow.
Luke Arcaini has been writing about the Phillies for 6 seasons, and is now in his 2nd year covering for Phillies down at Citizens Bank Park for Crossing Broad. Follow him on Twitter @ArcainiLuke