Zack Wheeler had hoped to have Sunday off. Instead, he was pitching in a must-win game for the Phillies and as usual, the veteran right-hander came through. Wheeler allowed one run over six innings as the Phillies beat Tampa Bay 7-3 in the regular season finale. As it turned out, had the Phillies lost, they still would have backed into the postseason when Arizona lost their finale to the San Diego Padres 9-4.
Offensively, Bryson Stott led the way with a 3-for-3 day at the plate with two doubles, an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base. Stott finished the season 27-for-27 in stolen bases for the Phillies after initially being called out on an attempted steal at second when he slid past the bag. The replay showed that he did get his hand back in before being tagged and the call was overturned. His first inning double drove in Kyle Schwarber, who had singled with one out.
Catcher J.T. Realmuto broke an 0-for-34 slump with a second inning double that landed just out of the reach of left fielder Victor Mesa Jr. to drive in Edmundo Sosa with the Phillies second run. Realmuto had gone over two weeks without getting a hit. Two batters later, Schwarber doubled to make it 4-0.
The Phillies put up three runs in the fifth. The inning opened with Bryce Harper taking a 3-2 pitch out for his 29th home run of the season. Stott then delivered his second double of the game, went to third on a groundball by Alec Bohm and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Marsh. Sosa then capped the scoring when he took the first pitch he saw out for his ninth home run of the season.
Alex McFarlane came on to pitch the seventh and gave up two earned runs to cut the lead to 7-3. Jesus Luzardo, who was activated off of the IL earlier in the day threw a four-pitch eighth inning to open the door for Jhoan Duran to throw a perfect ninth inning.
The win made the Phillies the third wild card team and sends them into a three-game wild card series against the Atlanta Braves. All three games will be played in Atlanta with the games scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (if necessary).
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