Phillies’ bullpen cracks in three-run seventh, as Dodgers steal home-field advantage with Game 1 NLDS win

Matt Strahm’s head whipped around. He followed the flight of the ball and thought, ever so briefly, that it would come down on the warning track, just a long out that he could chuckle about later.

“I didn’t think,” he said, “it was going to be a homer.”

But it kept going and going, into the fourth row of seats in the right-center field bleachers. Strahm bent at the waist. He put his hands on his knees and hung his head.

It was the Phillies’ worst nightmare.

And it happened again.

» READ MORE: How far will the Phillies go in the playoffs? Outs 13-21 will likely determine their fate.

One day shy of one year since the bullpen blew a late lead in a postseason-opening crusher, the Phillies met the same fate. This time, David Robertson left a two-on, none-out mess for Strahm, who was one pitch from escaping.

But Strahm left a fastball over the plate away, right where Dodgers slugger Teoscar Hernández likes them, according to catcher J.T. Realmuto. Hernández hit it for a three-run homer that turned a one-run Phillies lead into a cuticle-chomping 5-3 loss in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

With that, the Phillies fumbled home-field advantage in the best-of-five series and will face a must-win Monday night in Game 2 to avoid reaching the brink in barely an eyeblink.

All together now: Gulp.

“This is a series,” said Kyle Schwarber, who went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. “If we would’ve went out and won three games [in a row], great. But there’s five games for a reason.”

Fair. But here’s an ominous note: In their 143-season history, the Phillies have never won a playoff series after losing Game 1. And for all the talk of Citizens Bank Park being a house of horrors for opponents in the postseason, the Phillies have dropped four of their last five home playoff games dating to Games 6 and 7 of the 2023 NL Championship Series.

Oh, but it gets worse. Harrison Bader, the center fielder with the cut-off T-shirts, pastel-colored arm sleeves and spark plug energy since being acquired in a July 31 trade, left in the seventh inning with tightness in his left groin. He will get further testing Sunday.

» READ MORE: In uniform again, Zack Wheeler gets standing ovation in introductions before Game 1 of the NLDS

“Just random things happen, unfortunately,” said Bader, who felt something while running to second base. “It could certainly be worse in terms of how I’m feeling. Just didn’t feel like I could fully sprint out there in center field.”

There was a certain déjà vu to how the game unfolded.

The Phillies opened the playoffs last Oct. 5 by turning over a 1-0 lead from ace Zack Wheeler to the bullpen in the eighth inning. A year later, Cristopher Sánchez, the stand-in for injured Wheeler, dazzled for five innings and gave up two runs in the sixth before being replaced by Robertson with a 3-2 lead.

Robertson stranded the tying run in scoring position, then came back out for the seventh inning. He gave up a leadoff single and hit Will Smith with a pitch before yielding to Strahm, just like Jeff Hoffman in the eighth inning of last year’s Game 1.

“I did a terrible job,” Robertson said. “I put [Strahm] in a terrible situation. Just poor pitching on my part. He almost did the unthinkable and got out of it.”

Strahm faced the Dodgers’ two best players, striking out Shohei Ohtani and getting Mookie Betts to pop out. He fell behind Hernández before mislocating a 91-mph fastball for the homer.

“I feel like I got gut-punched missing two pitches,” Strahm said.

Gut-punched by the ghost of Game 1s past.

“I forgot about last year,” Strahm said.

» READ MORE: How far will the Phillies go in the playoffs? Outs 13-21 will likely determine their fate.

But the bridge from the starters to star closer Jhoan Duran was a sneaky concern for the Phillies going into the playoffs. Ranger Suárez, the presumptive Game 3 starter, was even available out of the bullpen, manager Rob Thomson said before the game.

“I trust [Strahm] in those situations,” Thomson said. “He’s experienced. He’s been through it before. He strikes out Ohtani, gets a pop-up from Betts, and he just missed his pitch.”

In the playoffs, that’s all it takes.

There were other culprits for the Phillies. The vaunted top of the order — Trea Turner, Schwarber, and Bryce Harper — combined to go 1-for-11 with six strikeouts. Nick Castellanos came off the bench to replace Bader and grounded into a double play. The Phillies left the bases loaded in the eighth against the Dodgers’ ulcer-inducing bullpen.

“Just got to dust it off,” Realmuto said. “It’s a five-game series, so there’s still plenty of opportunity for us to go out and play good baseball.”

It was shaping up as one of those ear-splitting October nights in South Philly, the sold-out crowd saluting injured ace Wheeler in pregame introductions, building to a crescendo as the Phillies ran up a three-run lead, and roaring in delight at each of the great Ohtani’s whiffs in his seventh career four-strikeout game.

“I kind of felt like I was at a rock concert,” Bader said, “but I was sober.”

And then ... mute.

» READ MORE: Like the 1980 team, these Phillies have a ‘sense of urgency’ to win it all. Can they get it done, too?

Kiké Hernández and Teoscar Hernández took care of the crowd, with the former lining a two-run double off Sánchez in the sixth inning before the latter’s big blast. Ohtani, making his first postseason start as a pitcher, handled the Phillies’ big bats, holding them to three hits and striking out nine in six innings.

“We’ll be fine,” said Schwarber, who hit 56 homers in the regular season. “It’s just one game. It’s the postseason. This isn’t about personal. This is about the whole team.”

Said Harper: “We’ve got to turn the page and get ready for Monday. We’ve got to do it as quick as possible. They’re a good team over there. We’re a good team as well. It’s going to be fun.”

If not, a 96-win season that produced a division title and renewed World Series hopes will be in peril.