Then Luis Arraez went down.
Suddenly, the stalled playoff clinch felt secondary.
Arraez suffered a left ankle sprain in the sixth inning of the Phillies’ 5-1 loss to Milwaukee at Citizens Bank Park, leaving Philadelphia with its magic number still stuck at two with three games remaining — and uncertainty surrounding one of the most important hitters in its lineup.
The injury came on an unusual play at first base. Arraez grounded to shortstop Cooper Pratt, whose throw pulled Jake Bauers off the bag. As Arraez tried to avoid Bauers’ tag, his left ankle twisted awkwardly beneath him.
He immediately crumpled to the ground.
Arraez remained there for several minutes as the Phillies’ medical staff attended to him. He eventually was helped from the field and appeared unable to put weight on his left leg. The Phillies diagnosed him with a sprained left ankle and said he would undergo further evaluation.
Manager Don Mattingly provided at least one encouraging development afterward.
“Obviously, we’re calling it a left ankle sprain,” Mattingly said. “X-rays were negative. We’ll know more tomorrow.”
Asked if he was hopeful Arraez could play again this season, Mattingly said: “I’m hopeful that he can play. But we’ll see. We’ll see where it goes.”
That uncertainty arrives at precisely the wrong time.
Arraez entered the night leading the National League batting race and has given the Phillies the high-contact presence they sought when they acquired him at the trade deadline. He was hitting .310 after Thursday’s game.
“He’s been great for us,” Bryce Harper said. “It’s the next-man-up mentality.”
There was frustration over the play itself, too.
Arraez was ruled out for running more than three feet outside his path to avoid the tag. Mattingly questioned the ruling afterward, believing Arraez remained within the running lane long enough for the play to continue.
Harper was puzzled, too.
“Obviously, a weird play,” he said. “I’ve never seen a home-plate umpire make a call like that from that side.”
Until then, the Phillies had been given exactly the kind of pitching performance needed in a game carrying late-September weight.
Andrew Painter allowed one run over six innings, scattering five hits while striking out eight and walking three. Alex McFarlane followed with a scoreless seventh, striking out three.
“He threw the ball good, got us where we needed to go,” Mattingly said of Painter.
The offense never did the rest.
Milwaukee struck first in the second inning before Harper’s RBI single in the third tied the game, 1-1. From there, Philadelphia failed to score again.
Then the bullpen cracked.
José Alvarado entered for the eighth and could not preserve the tie. Jackson Chourio reached and stole second before Jake Bauers delivered the go-ahead RBI single.
Alvarado recorded only one out before Mattingly turned to Chase Shugart, but the inning kept moving.
Pratt singled home Bauers. Joey Ortiz followed with another RBI single.
In a matter of minutes, a 1-1 postseason-style game became a 4-1 deficit.
All three runs were charged to Alvarado.
“[Alvarado's] been really good,” Mattingly said. “We didn’t go into the game feeling like anything was wrong.”
Chourio added a solo homer in the ninth to finish the scoring.
And so the Phillies head into the final three games of the regular season still needing help from themselves.
The magic number remains two.
Arizona swept Colorado. The Phillies have been unable to finish the job.
Harper was asked whether the pressure was beginning to grow.
“We’re in the driver’s seat,” he said. “We’ve got to win and take care of our business. We can’t really worry about any other teams or what they’re doing.”
Mattingly was even more direct.
“We’re feeling pressure,” he said. “We should be feeling some pressure. … It’s that time of year. You’re trying to win games.”
The Phillies still control their path.
But the runway is shrinking.
Three games remain. The magic number is two. The offense has gone quiet, the bullpen remains capable of turning tight games quickly, and now the status of the National League’s leading hitter is uncertain.
Thursday began with the Phillies trying to move closer to October.
It ended with them hoping Arraez will be able to join them if they get there.
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