Inside Don Mattingly’s Jhoan Duran decision that backfired in Phillies’ Wild Card Series Game 1 loss

The Phillies lost to the Braves, 5-3, in Game 1 of the best-of-three Wild Card Series Tuesday afternoon in Atlanta. The Phillies took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh inning on a two-RBI triple from catcher J.T. Realmuto before manager Don Mattingly decided to hand the ball over to his closer, Jhoan Duran.

Duran was one of the best closers in baseball in the regular season, but seeing him enter the game in the seventh inning was still a surprising move. He hadn't worked in the seventh inning all season and only did twice (once in the regular season, once in the playoffs) last year. He's generally a ninth-inning-only closer but has gotten some four-out saves.

In this situation, the Braves had the top of the order coming up in the top of the seventh (it was 9-1-2 to start).

"We talked about it before the game: if we were at the top, we were getting to the top, go seventh, eighth (innings)," Mattingly said after the game.

Duran only threw 11 pitches in the seventh inning, then got two outs in the bottom of the eighth before a weak tapper from Michael Harris II turned into…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/