With the entire season on the line, Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh are back in the Phillies' lineup, and Weston Wilson is getting the start in left field for the do-or-die Game 4 of the NLDS.
Stott, back at second base, will bat seventh. Wilson will bat eighth. And Marsh, sliding over to center field, will bat ninth against Mets left-hander Jose Quintana.
Let's roll#RedOctober pic.twitter.com/B0UsLiTmSJ
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) October 9, 2024
Wilson was carried on the postseason roster as an extra bench bat, and in 40 games and 98 plate appearances during the regular season, he slashed a line of .284/.347/.489 with three homers, seven doubles, and a triple that went toward a cycle.
Against left-handed pitchers more specifically, the 30-year old Wilson (a right-handed hitter) put up a line of .341/.412/.614 in 51 plate appearances, so the Phillies appear to be hoping that he can take on the Quintana matchup well.
Otherwise, it's over.
For Game 3 on Tuesday, the Phillies took a righty-heavy approach up against Mets left-hander Sean Manaea – sitting Marsh and Stott for Edmundo Sosa and Austin Hays – but it proved woefully ineffective.
Manaea tore through the Phillies' lineup for seven innings with just three hits and a run allowed on 91 pitches, continuing an awfully timed stretch where the Phils' hitters have been plagued by impatience and chasing outside the zone.
It got them nowhere in Tuesday's demoralizing 7-2 loss, and now has their backs to the wall entering Wednesday in Queens down 2-1 to the momentum-riding Mets in the best-of-five series.
“This is the closest to death we’re ever gonna get,” right-fielder Nick Castellanos said after Tuesday's loss at Citi Field (via NBC Sports Philadelphia). “So in a way, we should feel the most alive. We’re only promised tomorrow, and this is what we’ve been working since Spring Training for, to have this opportunity.
"It’s just one more time to show out and leave everything on the field, and however the dice is gonna land it’s gonna land.”
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