The Phillies led the Braves 3-2 in Atlanta on Tuesday after catcher J.T. Realmuto's two-run triple in the seventh. Interim manager Don Mattingly, who took over when the Phillies fired Rob Thomson in April, then brought in his All-Star closer, Jhoan Duran. The plan was for Duran to pitch the seventh and the eighth. He hadn't pitched a seventh inning all season. He retired the first five Braves he faced. Then Braves outfielder Michael Harris II beat out a slow grounder to shortstop Trea Turner. Duran hit second baseman Ozzie Albies with a full-count curveball. Third baseman Austin Riley homered on the next pitch. Atlanta leads the best-of-three series 1-0. Game 2 starts Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern in Atlanta.

1. Mattingly Asked Too Much of His Closer

Critics say Mattingly used Duran in a role he almost never fills, and Duran got tired.

A one-inning closer rarely pitches this early or this long. Duran went more than one inning just once all regular season. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes wrote that Mattingly "mismanaged his flawed roster into an eighth-inning collapse." Hayes wrote that Mattingly used Duran "in a situation overwhelmingly foreign to Duran." He said the call "smacked of the odd and desperate moves that cost Rob Thomson the manager's job."

Even his own catcher thought he looked tired. "After the infield single, that at-bat to Albies was a little uncharacteristic of him, just not being able to find the zone there and the curveball, being that wild with a 3-2 count," Realmuto said. "I thought maybe he looked a little tired."

Using Duran this long could cost the Phillies Game 2, too. Duran threw 27 pitches, and nobody knows yet whether he can pitch Wednesday. Cristopher Sánchez starts Game 2 for Philadelphia. Inquirer columnist David Murphy called the Game 2 risk the fairest knock on the plan. "If you are going to risk Duran being unavailable behind Sánchez in Game 2, you'd better make sure you win Game 1," he wrote.

2. Mattingly Made the Right Call. It Just Didn't Work.

Defenders say you use your best pitcher against the Braves' best hitters, and they blame a slow grounder for what went wrong.

Defenders say you use your best reliever early in October. "Had the Phillies used a lesser reliever and blown the game, there would've been questions about why one of the top relievers on the planet was sitting in the bullpen unused," wrote Matt Snyder of CBS Sports. "This time around, Mattingly and the Phillies made the right call. It just didn't work out."

The manager said he can live with losing this way. "In our minds, we had our best guy out there. You live with this one," Mattingly said. He said he would have checked with Duran about the ninth only if the eighth had gone quickly. Chris Landers of FanSided wrote that Mattingly's "process was sound." Duran blamed himself. "I missed the pitch in the zone, and I paid the price," he said.

Some writers blame the shortstop's throw more than the manager's call. CBS Sports' Dayn Perry and Mike Axisa called the move "an eminently defensible decision" and named Turner the game's loser. On the Harris grounder, they wrote, Turner "made a terrible throw that almost went into the dugout." Brandon Glick of FanSided's That Ball's Outta Here wrote that the plan "was working to perfection" until that infield single.

Others say the grounder may not have been playable. Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper defended Turner. "Harris can fly," Harper said. "I don't know if any shortstop in the game makes that play with Harris coming down the line." Glick disagreed. He called it "a difficult play to make," but wrote, "Still, it's a play he has to make."

3. The Front Office Didn't Give Mattingly a Better Option

Some writers say the bullpen is so thin that Duran was Mattingly's best option.

The bullpen lost Duran's setup man in July. Inquirer baseball writer Scott Lauber wrote that the bullpen "buckled when $22 million setup man Brad Keller tore an elbow ligament in July." He wrote that Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies' president of baseball operations, "didn't suitably reinforce it at the trade deadline." "Mattingly didn't have anyone as good as Duran," Lauber wrote.

Other writers say the thin bullpen is the bigger problem. "It says a lot that Jhoan Duran having to get 6+ outs was Don Mattingly's best option," wrote Luke Arcaini of Crossing Broad. Karl Rasmussen of Sports Illustrated called the move "questionable" but said "the real issue at play is the lack of strength in Philadelphia's bullpen."

Where This Lands

Hayes says Mattingly asked too much of his closer. Murphy says the fair knock is that it may cost the Phillies Duran in Game 2. Snyder and Landers say Mattingly used his best pitcher at the right time and lost on a slow grounder and one bad pitch. Lauber and Arcaini say Mattingly had no one as good as Duran because the front office didn't fix the bullpen at the deadline. Mattingly is trying to keep his job. In August, USA Today's Bob Nightengale reported that Mattingly likely must reach the World Series, or even win it, to be asked back. Dombrowski has said the team will wait until the season ends to decide. The Phillies have to win Wednesday to stay alive.

Sources