PHILADELPHIA (AP) — With their attempt at clinching an NL wild card teetering on an epic collapse, the Philadelphia Phillies will start Aaron Nola against Tampa Bay on two days' rest.
Nola (7-11, 4.54 ERA) struck out eight over six innings in his last start Wednesday and took the loss as Philadelphia fell to Milwaukee 4-1.
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The Phillies lost the next two games headed into Saturday and saw their NL wild-card lead over Arizona whittled to one game. Arizona plays Saturday night against San Diego.
The Phillies are 9-13 in September. Their magic number remained at two headed into Saturday.
The Padres and Chicago Cubs have clinched wild-card spots.
Should the race come down to Sunday, the Phillies will be forced to throw ace Zack Wheeler, which would burn him for potential Game 1 or 2 starts in the NL Wild Card Series.
Mattingly said the Phillies only briefly flirted with the idea of bumping up Wheeler a day.
Nola skipped his usual bullpen session Friday so he could take the mound against the AL East champion Rays. Mattingly said the right-hander throws 40-to-50-pitch bullpen sessions between starts and might not go much longer than that Saturday.
“If anybody's built for this,” Mattingly said, “it's probably Nola. He's a guy that's probably more old-school than anybody.”
The Phillies are in a bind with All-Star lefty Jesús Luzardo still on the injured list with left shoulder inflammation. Luzardo can be activated on Sunday and would be available to pitch if the Phillies need him.
The Phillies were shut out for the 12th time this season in Friday's 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay and have scored two runs over the last 27 innings. They have homered only once in their last 55 innings.
Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto entered in an 0-for-32 funk that’s dipped his average to .206.
NL batting leader and starting second baseman Luis Arraez is out indefinitely with a severely sprained left ankle. His absence sparked some lineup shuffling the last two games, with Bryce Harper back at first base and Bryan De La Cruz starting in right field. Bryson Stott was again at second base.
The Phillies could have clinched a wild card as early as Wednesday. They started Saturday — where heavy rain had a tarp on the field — suddenly in the conversation on the Philly sports scene as a team potentially poised to join the short list of epic collapses in franchise history.
“I just think there's pressure all the time,” Mattingly said ahead of the game. “I've always felt if you put pressure on yourself all the time to perform and hold yourself to a standard, this game is really no different than any other game. Obviously, we know there's a lot at stake. That's the beauty of kind of playing at a level all the time.”
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