LOS ANGELES — It was only the seventh inning when Phillies closer Jhoan Duran started throwing in the right-field bullpen on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.
Duran had not thrown more than one inning in any outing since being acquired by Philadelphia at the Trade Deadline. He hadn’t entered a game prior to the ninth inning, except for one mop-up eighth inning just to get some work in a blowout loss a few weeks ago in Arizona.
He has recorded only two six-out saves in his career — and both came in 2022 with the Twins.
But the Phillies were clinging to a two-run lead with their season on the line in a must-win Game 3 of the National League Division Series. So was Duran about to pitch the final two innings?
“That’s what we were going to do,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson confirmed after the Phillies’ 8-2 season-saving victory.
That is, until the Phillies blew the game wide open.
With Duran ramping up in the ‘pen, the Phils pushed across five runs in the top of the eighth inning off Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw. The rally was capped off by a Kyle Schwarber two-run home run — his second of the game — that pushed the lead to 8-1.
When the ball landed just a couple sections over from where Duran had been throwing in the visitor’s bullpen, he sat back down.
Instead of needing to push Duran to the limit, the late rally allowed Thomson to pivot to Orion Kerkering, Taijuan Walker and Tanner Banks to close it out. In doing so, the Phillies not only extended the series to a Game 4, but they now go into Thursday with Duran again available to take down multiple innings, if needed.
And how many innings could he have pitched in Game 4 had he pitched the two, as planned, in Game 3?
“One, if any,” Thomson said.
Instead, the Phillies will have an almost completely fresh bullpen for Game 4. They’ll also have their Game 1 starter in Cristopher Sánchez back on the mound opposite Dodgers righty Tyler Glasnow, who hasn’t started a game since Sept. 27 — and hasn’t pitched more than three innings in an outing since Sept. 20.
Sánchez, meanwhile, pitched at least seven innings in 13 starts this season. That was two more than any other pitcher in the National League.
That would, obviously, be an ideal outcome for the Phillies, especially with a now-rested Duran once again ready and willing to handle two frames.
“Mentally and physically, I needed to be ready because today was a big day for us,” Duran said. “And now tomorrow is, too. So I’ll be ready for anything.”
There’s also another factor at play.
Duran had already pitched in each of the first two games of the NLDS — both losses. For the Phillies to complete the comeback in this series, it was possible that Duran would be called upon in Games 3, 4 and 5, as well.
Every extra look the Dodgers get at the electric closer can only help their hitters.
“You face a guy three, four times in a series, I think that’s a big advantage,” said Phillies shortstop Trea Turner. “So I think that was important to kind of keep him out of there and tack on runs and break it open and kind of put that one away.”
The Dodgers know it was important, too.
“Would have loved to get Duran in the game tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Duran would have loved to pitch, too. But he loves the chance to pitch in a Game 4 even more.
“I’m happy because we won and we have the opportunity tomorrow because we won tonight,” Duran said. “I’ll be ready for anything they need me for.”
