Why Friday was a worst-case scenario for the Diamondbacks against Philadelphia

PHOENIX — The worst-case scenario unfolded for the Arizona Diamondbacks in their postseason pursuit on Friday, as a lackluster 8-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies dropped them to three games back from the New York Mets in the third National League Wild Card spot.

Both the Mets (80-74) and Cincinnati Reds (78-76) won their respective games on Friday in comeback fashion. The Reds took a one-game lead over the Diamondbacks, which can be seen as a two-game lead since Cincinnati owns the tiebreaker.

Arizona crashed back to .500 (77-77), as its momentum from a four-game winning streak seemed to have stalled with an extra-inning loss on Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants.

There are eight games left in the regular season.

“I feel like we’ve been playing must-win games for a while now,” D-backs pitcher Ryne Nelson said. “It’s not really anything new. We’re just trying to show up and go out there and compete … Today it just didn’t fall our way.”

Diamondbacks go quiet vs. Phillies

Arizona lost a game in which MVP candidate Kyle Schwarber went 0-for-4 for Philadelphia.

The Diamondbacks also grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning, as Ketel Marte opened the scoring with a solo shot off Taijuan Walker — the two players Arizona acquired from Seattle in a trade back in November 2016.

Marte had not homered since Sept. 2, and he nearly cracked a second with a 421-foot double in the fifth inning that would have left every other ballpark, per Statcast. Marte finished a triple shy of the cycle.

Arizona, however, failed to score after the opening frame, letting a pitching piggyback of Walker and Walker Buehler cruise through 7.2 innings. The D-backs went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, a second straight game with no hits in such situations. The D-backs have scored three runs over 20 innings, including Wednesday’s loss.

“If you’re looking at one area, it’s probably execution with men in scoring position,” manager Torey Lovullo said of the offensive woes. “Just go out there and take your same at-bats, still be aggressive, stay in the middle of the zone and not put too much pressure on yourself.”

Diamondbacks pitching maintained the lead early, but the Phillies eventually broke out.

Nelson held the Phillies to one run on three hits through four innings before Harrison Bader took him deep in the fifth. Bader’s shot tied the game 2-2, and the Phillies grabbed a lead on a Weston Wilson single in the sixth, after Nelson’s day concluded.

Nelson finished with five innings, two earned runs, five hits and only one strikeout. He was in a fist fight, as he struggled to draw whiffs with five compared to 21 foul balls. His ERA stayed put at 3.34.

Down 3-2, Arizona turned to Jake Woodford in the eighth inning, and he served up a two-run blast to Nick Castellanos.

The Diamondbacks had their chance to get back into the game, but Jordan Lawlar popped out with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning. The Phillies put the game out of reach against Woodford, whose ERA climbed to 6.44.

“We were up against it,” Lovullo said when asked why Woodford was the choice there.

“We had some other options in there, but I wanted to save those guys for a situation in case we took the lead. I wanted to make sure that we were in a good spot there. We’re a little bit tired in the bullpen right now. Not everybody’s available, I’ll tell you that.”

Lovullo said Andrew Saalfrank, who has been dealing with a sore shoulder, was not available.

Nice debut for Philip Abner

Left-handed reliever Philip Abner made his major league debut on Friday and had to face Schwarber right out of the gate in the seventh inning. Abner mentioned pregame that this would happen, but he handled himself by striking out a hitter with 53 home runs this season.

After a single and a walk, Abner struck out Brandon Marsh looking to strand the bases loaded and hold the Phillies scoreless in the inning.

“He got two huge outs against really good hitters and drove balls into the areas that we wanted him to,” Lovullo said. “It was a good first step for him.”

Philip Abner's first batter faced in The Show? Kyle Schwarber and his 53 homers.

The @Dbacks' 2023 sixth-rounder gets his first strikeout anyway! pic.twitter.com/tLtbVkPMUH

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 20, 2025

Up next for Diamondbacks

The second game of the series begins Saturday at 5:10 p.m. MST.

Zac Gallen will start for Arizona against Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola.

“We just gotta continue the work and have fun out there,” Marte said. “We don’t have pressure. We believe in our talent. Forget about today, and then tomorrow we come to play. We are hungry and I think we’re gonna be alright.”

Catch the game on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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