NL WILDCARD GAME: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

September 30, 2026

Don Mattingly

Truist Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Postgame Press Conference

Phillies 4, Braves 3 (10)

Q. Don, was Duran not available in any capacity tonight?

DON MATTINGLY: Not today.

Q. Do you expect to have him tomorrow?

DON MATTINGLY: We hope.

Q. Is he dealing with an injury of any kind?

DON MATTINGLY: I mean, obviously he pitched two innings yesterday, or basically two innings yesterday. So yeah, we'll see where he's at tomorrow.

Q. What can you say about Andrew Painter's performance tonight?

DON MATTINGLY: Well, Paint, Sanchy, incredible today, kept the game in check. Even Matt getting us out of the seventh there, not letting that thing spiral, and gets a big out on Dubón. Yeah, incredible those guys today.

Q. How is Sosa?

DON MATTINGLY: He seemed okay after the game. We'll see where he's at tomorrow. It looked bad, but Paul after the game said it didn't look that bad. So we'll see.

Q. You spoke before the game sort of about the last couple months Alec Bohm has had. How huge was that from him there?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, obviously that's huge. Schwarb, Harp -- after we give up those two, they got momentum, and to be able to get that back right away was huge. But then Alec, I think it's two outs there too, right, and to be able to do that. The balls over there seem to carry in that direction. We've seen two the last couple nights that have been big on that side.

Q. What were your impressions of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper rising to the occasion in that inning with those back-to-backs, and on Andrew Painter, did he kind of come of age tonight?

DON MATTINGLY: Well, Schwarb and Harp, obviously those are huge. Schwarb fights off some pitches and was closing in on not being able to see very well. But to catch him there, and then Bryce hit a pretty good pitch, kind of down and in, and to be able to keep that fair is a big swing.

Paint has really been coming of age all year long. Since he's come back, he's crossed a lot of hurdles of -- had some first-inning stuff. I've talked about it back in Philly for the last, I don't know, few weeks, that he's kind of shown that he's going to be a good one.

That was obviously big today. I thought the double play ball -- obviously walks the first guy to get that double play ball there -- was huge for him, and that just sent him on a roll.

Q. What was your perspective of the play with Bryce in right field, and did you feel like you needed to say anything? Did you go up to him in the dugout after that before his at-bat -- you feel like you need to say anything that?

DON MATTINGLY: I think it's a ball Bryce probably thinks he should have caught. It looked like it kept carrying a little bit. But no, you don't need to say anything to guys like that in that spot, not in this moment.

Q. With Sanchez, the way he battled today, even when he got in trouble in the seventh inning but still was able to get some good outs.

DON MATTINGLY: No, Sanchy was really, really good today. He held his stuff all day too. I think that's the most pitches he's thrown in a game and we knew we were going to ride with him as long as his stuff was good and he was in a good spot. We gave him a couple extra outs that inning. But he was obviously outstanding today.

Q. Do you still expect Nola to start tomorrow?

DON MATTINGLY: We'll talk about it. Obviously it's another elimination game. I think three out of the last four have been elimination games, so I'm assuming it'll be pretty much all hands on deck. We'll talk about where we're going to go with it.

Q. I know you don't like hypotheticals, but could Wheeler possibly be available out of the bullpen if he does not start tomorrow?

DON MATTINGLY: Yeah, we'll see. Again, all hands on deck tomorrow. I'm sure they're in the same boat, so yeah.

Q. Did you put eyeballs on Bryce when he came back to the dugout after the bottom of the seventh, and could you read his body language? Was he upset about the missed play, and did you get the feeling that he was primed to make up for that by doing something special?

DON MATTINGLY: I didn't really get eyeballs on him coming in. I never worry about Bryce. He's been through so much in his life, in his career. I never worry about him handling anything.

No, I didn't get a sense or a feel for any of that. That would be dramatic if I did, but I didn't.

Q. Is this expected with this series against the Braves, always coming down to the end, very close, and elimination? Did you expect this?

DON MATTINGLY: I think you expect close games in the playoffs, and you know that -- you never know what's going to happen. It's not like game 90 in the season. Everybody is fighting for every out, every at-bat. It's not going to stop.

I think you always expect these games to be tight games in general. You're seeing their best pitchers. They're not going to their four, five guys and their last guys in the pen and things like that. You're seeing the best of their best, so you expect good games.

Q. Back to Painter, when he went down in June, you said guys really come up and just stick. This happens, he'll still get big outs for us. At that point could you have pictured he'd be getting the outs he got today in this type of game?

DON MATTINGLY: I wish I could say I pictured that then because obviously it looked bad then. But I think it speaks to Paint of who he is and who he's going to be, the way he's came back. He went down there, he didn't complain, he went to work, kept pitching.

We talked about it then, that it was not something that we were going to send him down for a start, try to fix something and get him back up.

No, he had to go down and earn his way back. If he wouldn't have been pitching good, he wouldn't have found his way back. But I think it does speak to him and who he is. Went down, went to work, came back. He's been a different guy.