Phillies

The Phillies’ Bullpen Cost Them Game 1, and That’s on Dave Dombrowski

By Matt Schultz

Published: Sep 30th, 2026 · 11:50 AM EDT

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The Phillies lost a heartbreaker to the Braves in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series on Tuesday afternoon, and Phils fans can thank Dave Dombrowski for it. 

After J.T. Realmuto put Philly up 3-2 with a massive, momentum-swinging 2-run triple in the seventh inning that no one on the planet expected after the year he’s had, Don Mattingly turned to Jhoan Duran early to get through the top of the Braves’ lineup. The closer did his job in the seventh, but when Don trotted him back out in the eighth – only the second time all season Jhoan was asked to go more than one inning in a game – Mattingly’s move blew up in his face. Austin Riley hit a 3-run homer, which put the Braves up 5-3 and all but sealed the victory:

AUSTIN RILEY
GO-AHEAD THREE-RUN HOMER
ATLANTA IS GOING WILD 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XrPQnazvVO

— MLB (@MLB) September 29, 2026

Mattingly’s decision to go to Duran early and have him pitch multiple innings ended up being the deciding factor of the game, and he spoke on it after the loss:

"It's frustrating. But in our minds, we had our best guy out there, you live with this one."

Don Mattingly explains the decision to go with Jhoan Duran for the 7th and 8th inning of today's Game 1 loss in Atlanta.

📺 MLB Network pic.twitter.com/cqsiv0fShD

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 29, 2026

MATTINGLY: “We talked about it before the game, if we’re at the top (of the lineup with a lead), we’re getting to the top, right, go 7th (and) 8th.”

REPORTER: “Were you gonna try to get three out of him today if possible?”

MATTINGLY: “Well, he made it look easy the first inning. If the second one went really quick, I woulda just checked with him. If not we woulda went with somebody else.”

You can quibble with Mattingly’s decision to go with Duran in the seventh if you are so inclined (for the record, I thought it was a good move — the top of the Braves lineup is dangerous and the drop-off after Michael Harris II is huge; just get through their 5-spot and figure out the rest later), but ultimately, arguing the interim manager’s decision-making is missing the actual issue: the real problem is that Mattingly has exactly one good relief pitcher on the roster he can turn to. And that massive flaw in roster construction lies squarely on Dave Dombrowski’s shoulders.

Besides Duran, look at who Mattingly has to choose from in the pen. He went with rookie Alex Macfarlane — who’s pitched just 19 innings in his big league career — in the 6th, where he allowed 1 earned run on 2 hits (including a triple to Ozzie Albies). Not great. From there, who did Mattingly have down the stretch?

José Alvarado (5.86 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, 31 BB, 65 H in 58.1 IP) had a disastrous season plagued by his signature command issues. Giving Alvy the ball in this spot was not an option.

Orion Kerkering (4.97 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 34 BB in 58.0 IP), was optioned to Lehigh Valley weeks ago.

Brooks Raley didn’t even make the playoff roster. Chase Shugart wasn’t going to be called on in a close game in Atlanta.

Tanner Banks (6.11 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 51 H in 35.1 IP) got hit around all year. No way.

Jonathan Bowlan (3.36 ERA, 1.03 WHIP in 56.1 IP) is more of a mop-up relief/depth piece, and less of a high-leverage late-inning guy. Could he have done it? Maybe. But I know I wouldn’t have felt good watching Bowlan running in from the pen.

Tim Mayza (3.43 ERA, 1.11 WHIP in 57.2 IP) is a matchup-dependent lefty, not the overpowering, swing-and-miss bridge arm the Phils needed in this spot — especially considering all the right-handed/switch-hitting power bats the Braves had coming up.

Every option was bad over the final weeks. This bullpen simply does not have enough reliable, playoff-ready arms, which leads us back to Dave Dombrowski. It’s just a poorly constructed roster. We talk about this all the time, and on Tuesday afternoon, it bit the Phillies in the ass. So if you want to argue over Mattingly’s moves in Game 1, have at it, but keep in mind: this loss is on the POBO, and if this postseason ends up being a quick one, that’ll be on him too.