The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Atlanta Braves by a 3-1 score in Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Thursday night. As a result, the Phillies won the best-of-five series by a 3-1 margin.
The Phillies will now advance to the NL Championship Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which will begin on Monday. The Braves, for their part, will head home.
The Phillies can credit Thursday's victory to an assortment of players. Nick Castellanos homered twice; Trea Turner recorded the first four-hit game in Phillies postseason history; and Ranger Suárez and the Phillies bullpen again held MLB's most potent regular-season offense to a single run.
Harper, Turner, Castellanos stay hot
The Phillies' stars showed up for Game 4 and a tough matchup against Braves ace and NL Cy Young Award candidate Spencer Strider. Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Nick Castellanos combined for six hits and three walks in nine trips to the plate against Strider. You did not misread and we did not miscalculate: those three did not make a single out against Strider.
Turner and Castellanos each launched a pair of extra-base hits against Strider: Turner homered once and doubled once. Castellanos, in essentially a repeat of last night's Game 3, homered twice. In the process, Castellanos became the first player in MLB history to record consecutive multi-homer games.
While Castellanos will, rightly, receive much of the attention, we feel obligated to note that Turner's night was impressive in its own right. He entered Thursday with a career 0 for 17 mark against Strider and proceeded to go 3 for 3. It just goes to show that individual pitcher-batter matchups might be descriptive, but they aren't typically predictive. (Turner finished 4 for 4 and a triple shy of the cycle.)
Harper, for his part, was involved in a scary collision to end the top of the eighth. Matt Olson's knee connected with Harper's surgically repaired right elbow on a ground out. Harper retreated to the clubhouse between innings, but returned to the dugout and took his post at first base for the ninth.
Suárez, bullpen deliver, again
Left-hander Ranger Suárez received his second start of the series on Thursday night. As he did in Game 1, he again delivered more than the Phillies could have reasonably expected given the Braves' offensive potency during the season.
Suárez, who threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings last time out, did allow a run this time -- on an Austin Riley solo home run. Otherwise, he held the Braves to three hits and no walks over five innings of work. He struck out two batters.
It's worth noting that Suárez had not allowed a run in any of his four most recent postseason appearances. (Two starts, two relief outings.) That may have changed on Thursday, but he remained a factor in the Phillies' victory.
With the book closed on Suárez after five, manager Rob Thomson again asked his key relievers to maintain a small lead across several innings. Seranthony Dominguez and José Alvarado combined to get through the seventh. Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel loaded the bases ahead of a matchup versus Ronald Acuña Jr. in the seventh, but were bailed out by a nifty grab by rookie outfielder Johan Rojas. Observe:
Kimbrel and Gregory Soto contained the Braves in the eighth, leaving the ninth to Matt Strahm, who ran into trouble and escaped to secure the win.
Phillies advance to NLCS
For the second consecutive season, the Phillies will leave the Braves behind and advance to the NLCS. Last fall, of course, they defeated the San Diego Padres in five games. This spin, the Phillies will be tasked with upending a different NL West team: the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Phillies and Diamondbacks will kick off the 2023 NLCS on Monday. The first two games of the series will be hosted in Philadelphia.