NL WILDCARD GAME: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

September 30, 2026

Walt Weiss

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame Press Conference

Phillies 4, Braves 3 (10)

Q. Considering the bullpen has been your strength all year, how much harder does that make this loss?

WALT WEISS: Yeah, look, we've been winning those games all year because of our bullpen. Bullpen, has been, like I said all year our most consistent strength.

But some big home runs late by some really good hitters. That's what got us.

Q. Any consideration of going to Dodd there instead of Lee or you knew Lee was your guy for that inning?

WALT WEISS: No. Lee is our high-leverage lefty. Put down the same part of the order yesterday pretty easily. Threw the ball really well yesterday. So no, that's his inning every time.

Q. How tough is this for Fuentes? It's an opposite-field homer, an opposite-field triple yesterday. How do you talk to them about this?

WALT WEISS: Yeah, look, it's all part of it. When you're a late-inning reliever, these things happen. I've seen some great ones that this has happened to. I saw one of the greatest. I was at shortstop when Kurt Gibson did his thing off one of the greatest closers of all time. It comes with the territory when you're pitching late in close games. Every once in a while, they get you.

Q. How much was Robert Suarez a consideration in any high-leverage spot today?

WALT WEISS: Not ahead of the other guys. Robert has thrown two innings in the last three months. He didn't jump the line. He would have been next, but he wouldn't have been in front of those other guys.

Q. What is your plan for tomorrow in terms of are you going to have an opener --

WALT WEISS: Not sure yet. We'll sit down and talk about who's going to start tomorrow.

Q. I know you've said it time and time again the last week or two, when faced with adversity, this team has responded. This is a tough one, but what do you expect tomorrow from your team?

WALT WEISS: Yeah, I expect them to come out tomorrow and it to be a similar game. Like I said yesterday, this is usually what it looks like when these two teams play. So yeah, that's what'll happen tomorrow. We'll come out and we'll be ready.

Q. You touched on this yesterday when talking about whether to keep in Chris Sale or bring in Fuentes. Can you walk us through your thought process of deciding to put in Lee and not give Mahle another inning?

WALT WEISS: No, Mahle was done. He was done. We had a scare before the game. He felt an abdominal pull. We didn't know if he was going to make the start. Then there was a long inning -- between the seventh and the eighth was a really long time. He's not going back out there probably under any circumstances.

And it's set up for Dylan Lee. That's a perfect inning for Dylan Lee. He took that inning down yesterday in a very similar scenario.

Q. You mentioned the abdominal pull. How long ago did you realize that was happening and how close of a call was it for a start?

WALT WEISS: We weren't sure. It was right at game time after he came out of the bullpen. He ended up working through it, and it got better as the game went on. But we were scrambling early on.

Q. Two more decisions. Turner is 5 for 11 against Iglesias, that was that decision, right?

WALT WEISS: Right. With three homers.

Q. And then the Murphy/Dom Smith there. Dom has only had 16 plate appearances --

WALT WEISS: Dom is a really good pinch-hitter and it's a professional at-bat. I think thought there was a good chance he may even draw a walk there and pass the baton to Yaz. Just felt good about Dom in that situation. He's come through for us.

Like I said, good pinch-hitter, professional at-bat.