The Philadelphia Phillies were on their way to rebounding from their Game 3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. A 5-3 lead in the eighth inning had them in the driver's seat.
By the end of the night, however, the Phillies weren't in control. They'd blown their lead and let the Diamondbacks even up the series at 2-2.
Who is to blame for the frustrating loss?
3. Nick Castellanos
The Phillies certainly needed more out of Bryce Harper on Friday night. He was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Trea Turner could have done better too. Despite going 1-for-3 with a walk, he was caught stealing and struck out for the final out of the game.
But the player more worthy of highlighting here is Nick Castellanos.
Castellanos has been quite good in the playoffs with five home runs going into Game 4. However, he's also chasing pitches like they're going out of style. When he's not making big contact, he's a detriment to the Phillies offense.
In Game 3, Castellanos was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. He was less likely to strike out in Game 4. Unfortunately, going 0-of-4 with one strikeout is still an insufficient output. Going 0-of-2 with runners in scoring position was the problem.
The Phillies need Castellanos to turn up his plate discipline and get to work reacting to this punch in the face.
2. Alec Bohm
Alec Bohm was 2-of-4 with an RBI in Game 4. You'd think he had a decent outing. That's not actually the case though.
Bohm committed a costly error in the second inning, sparking a troublesome inning with a throwing error from third. Christian Walker took first base as a result and went on to score the opening run of the game.
That wasn't the end of Bohm's miscues. He also committed baserunning miscues that may have been small but become issues when they add up inning after inning and game after game. His baserunning IQ couldn't be worse at this point.
Even his hit in the sixth inning was more of an error by the Phillies and he managed to get caught out at second base completely unnecessarily.
In the NLCS, the little things matter. Errors and base running screw-ups can mean the difference between winning and losing, especially for a player who so rarely makes an impact with his bat.
1. Craig Kimbrel
Rob Thomson put Craig Kimbrel on the mound in the bottom of the eight with a 5-3 lead. His job was simple. Get the Phillies to the ninth with their lead intact. Simple right?
Let's just say, nothing is simple when Kimbrel is pitching.
The reliever gave up a double to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to open the inning, then conceded the game-tying home run to Alek Thomas.
Even then, he remained out there with the opportunity to end the inning with two outs on the board. He gave up a single to Ketel Marte and hit Corbin Carroll with a pitch to put two more men on base. Jose Alvarado came in to try to get him out of trouble but conceded an RBI single to Gabriel Moreno as the Diamondbacks took the 6-5 lead.
Simply put, Kimbrel blew the lead and further eroded whatever faith might be left in him after giving up the walk-off run in Game 3.
Others in the Phillies bullpen could have done a better job, but Kimbrel is now directly on the hook for two Phillies losses in the NLCS.
