‘It was everything’: Phillies’ Seranthony Dominguez rises to the challenge of six-out save

As the eighth inning of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series was coming to a close on Friday night, Phillies manager Rob Thomson spotted Seranthony Domínguez at the opposite end of the dugout. Domínguez had thrown 18 pitches an inning earlier, but he had a wet towel wrapped around his right arm to keep it warm, an indication that he was preparing to go back out for the ninth.

Thomson walked over to Domínguez. It was a short conversation.

“How are you feeling?” The manager asked.

“Good,” Domínguez said.

“Can you keep going?” Thomson asked.

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“Yes,” Domínguez said.

“Are you sure?” Thomson asked.

“Yes,” Domínguez said.

Domínguez, who had stranded the baserunner he had inherited in the eighth, bundled his hoodie over his towel-wrapped arm for extra warmth. A few minutes later, he jogged onto the field and threw 16 more pitches to complete a six-out save en route to a 4-2 Phillies win over the Padres. It was the first postseason save of his career, the first time he had pitched two innings since 2019, and the first six-out Phillies postseason save since Tug McGraw did it to win the 1980 World Series.

Domínguez was born 14 years after McGraw recorded that six-out save. He didn’t watch it live, and he might not even know who McGraw was. But the beauty of this game is that a hard-throwing right-hander from Esperanza, a small province in the Dominican Republic, can be linked to a left-hander from central California who threw screwballs four decades earlier.

“I didn’t know that,” Domínguez said of his historic feat. “Thank you for telling me. It’s like I tell the guys before, I’m here just to pitch and to do my job. I’m out of the game when they say you’re out. When I’m still in the game, I’m going to try to get people out.”

The Phillies don’t have a traditional closer, but when Domínguez enters a game, he plans on finishing it. This season, Thomson has had him pitch four-out and five-out saves, but never a six-out save, until Friday night. With a bullpen game scheduled for Game 4 on Saturday, Thomson had to find a way to hold on to a tenuous two-run lead, while not exhausting his relief corps.

It was the most pitches Domínguez had thrown all year (34) but the reliever allowed just one hit over his two innings, with three strikeouts.

“It was everything,” catcher J.T. Realmuto said of Domínguez. “Him closing it out with six outs was huge. We probably don’t win that game if he doesn’t do what he does. Without him back there, who knows what would’ve happened?”

With their 4-2 win on Friday night, the Phillies are now just two wins away from the World Series. Getting to 27 outs on Saturday won’t be easy. Left-hander Bailey Falter, who was announced as the Game 4 starter after Friday’s game, hasn’t pitched in a game since Oct. 5 in Houston, the regular-season finale. The Phillies hope he can get through the lineup once — about a three-inning outing — and plan to lean on the bullpen from there.

Thomson said the Phillies are going with Falter because they like how he matches up against the Padres’ left-handed-heavy lineup. Falter hasn’t been able to face actual hitters in more than two weeks, but has thrown some heavy bullpens with players standing in the box.

Thomson mentioned Noah Syndergaard as a possibility to come in after Falter. Syndergaard, who pitched three innings for the Phillies in Game 4 of the National League Division Series against Atlanta, could give them some length to bridge them to the later innings.

Dominguez likely won’t be available for Game 4. But Thomson said José Alvarado and Zach Eflin, who both pitched in Game 3, will be “fine.” Other options include David Robertson, who hasn’t pitched since Game 2, Brad Hand, Andrew Bellatti, and Connor Brogdon.