The Phillies kept their season alive with a stirring 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Braves in Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series on Wednesday. And they made some history on the game’s final pitch, too.
J.T. Realmuto successfully initiated the first game-ending ABS challenge in postseason history, helping steer Andrew Painter through a jam in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Pinch-hitter Dom Smith stepped in to face Painter with two on and two out in the bottom of the 10th inning. Painter, pitching in his third inning out of the bullpen, was nursing a skinny one-run lead. He recorded back-to-back swings and misses on a pair of changeups, jumping ahead of Smith 0-2. Then, Painter tried to dot a two-strike fastball along the inner portion of the plate.
Home plate umpire Adam Beck initially called the pitch a ball, but Realmuto used the Phillies’ last challenge -- a decision that wound up ending the game.
"When we can keep those challenges for late in the game, we have all the confidence in the world with J.T. using them, and we always want to reserve one for J.T. behind the plate," Painter said. "So just knowing that if we can keep those late in the game, J.T. knows the situation and knows when it's a good time to challenge, and making sure we save them for the right spot."
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Realmuto, a 13-year veteran, has proven particularly deft at challenging in the first year of the Automated-Ball Strike Challenge System (ABS). His 81% success rate in the regular season led all catchers (min. 20 challenges issued), and he’s third best when it comes to Statcast’s Overturns vs. Expected model. In fact, led by Realmuto, Phillies catchers are the best at overturning calls behind the plate.
The start time of Game 3 on Thursday depends on which series are still active through play on Wednesday. Phillies-Braves will start at 2 p.m. ET unless it is the only remaining series, or if White Sox-Astros is the only other active series. In both of those cases, Phillies-Braves Game 3 would start at 8 p.m. ET and air on NBC and Peacock.