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Aaron Nola was tagged for early runs on short rest as the Phillies suffered a 12-1 defeat to Tampa Bay, worsening their odds in the NL wild-card race against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
PHILADELPHIA — Aaron Nola was hit hard on two days’ rest and the Phillies bullpen unraveled in a 12-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night, forcing Philadelphia to try and salvage a final-week collapse and play for an NL wild-card berth on the last day of the season.
Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that now includes four straight losses. The Diamondbacks played at San Diego on Saturday night and entered the game one game back of the Phillies for the final wild card. The Diamondbacks hold the tiebreaker over the Phillies. The Phillies are 9-14 in September.
Their magic number remained at two headed into Saturday. Philadelphia will turn to Zack Wheeler on Sunday to try and finally clinch its fifth straight playoff berth and avoid the franchise’s worst collapse since 1964. With the Phillies’ attempt at clinching an NL wild card teetering on an epic meltdown, Nola was hit hard on just about every ball in play and left trailing 3-0 after pitching only one inning.
Junior Caminero hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Richie Palacios added an RBI double for a 3-0 lead. Caminero’s 42nd homer gave him 101 RBIs for the AL East champion Rays. Palacios had four RBIs and Victor Mesa Jr. had his first four-hit game. The Phillies used six relievers.
José Alvarado was voraciously booed off the mound after the beleaguered lefty gave up three runs in the fifth inning. José Urquidy allowed three runs in the sixth to make it 10-0 and most Phillies fans — some of whom wore brown paper bags over their heads — fled for the exits on a rainy night. Rays starter Griffin Jax took a line drive from Philadelphia’s Trea Turner off his lower back and left the game after three innings.
The Phillies had a runner on second and two outs when Turner drilled a 104-mph line drive off Jax. The ball ricocheted to shortstop Taylor Walls , who threw out Turner for the third out of the inning. Jax was relieved by Steven Matz , who pitched a scoreless inning. The Phillies snapped their 21-inning scoreless streak on an unearned run in the seventh.
Up next The Rays finish with RHP Nick Martinez on the mound. ___ See AP’s full MLB coverage here Dan Gelston, The Associated Press
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