Red October isn’t looking so red for Philadelphia Phillies fans anymore. Game 3 of the 2023 NLCS saw the Phillies’ bats hit the skids in bunches.

The Phillies dominated the Arizona Diamondbacks with back-to-back wins of 5-3 and 10-0 in the first two games of the NLCS. Game 3, however, was a literal game-changer for the D-backs. The win pushed the Phillies down to 2-1 on the leaderboard, as opposed to 3-0 had they won this game. In the middle of this terrible loss and fans’ retaliations, let’s hear what the Phillies have to say about it.

The Art of Letting Go: Philadelphia Phillies’ Star Brandon Marsh Reveals His Secret to Overcoming Losses

You can blame Rob Thomson’s Kerkering placement, or you can blame Kimbrel’s disappointing performance at the end of the game. But the main reason the Phillies suffered is because too many batters in the lineup were silent.

The pitchers of both teams did a terrific job, with Suarez and Pfaadt taking their teams to the sixth inning, denying any runs. None of the teams saw any runs the whole afternoon until Bryce Harper gave the team a 1-0 lead. Following Ketel Marte’s weighted RBI single off of Kimbrel after missing chances all afternoon, the Phillies needed a really big hit to get that walk-off win. A hit that never came.

In the wake of the loss that enraged the Phillies fans—the majority of whom decided to buy out most of the tickets at Chase Field to keep the D-backs fans out—the players had something to say before Game 4 takes place this week.

Jon Morosi of MLB News asked Brandon Marsh, “How long it will take the Phillies to flush this loss and move on to Game 4?”, to which the ever-enthusiastic Phillies outfielder replied, “We already did.” That’s the spirit we expect from the Fightin’ Phils.

Phillies Team Members and Manager Show Resilience in Wake of Game 3 Loss

Phillies fans feared this outcome because Kimbrel has been inconsistent throughout the season. But the weak offense has also been pivotal to the team’s performance since the start of Game 3. It took only five D-back pitchers to box up the Phillies for three hits. Kimbrel told CBS News about his performance, stating, “I felt like I could make some pitches to get us out of it,” further explaining, “Sometimes you get them. Some days you don’t. Today just wasn’t that day.”

“I was locating my pitches really well today,” said Suarez, who scored nine whiffs on the D-backs, mentioning, “That helped me a lot.” Manager Rob Thomson doesn’t believe this is the end of the season for them, and justifiably so, stating, “…I’m going to think about coming in here tomorrow and getting ready and getting ready to compete,” regarding the next day’s game.

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Philadelphia Phillies Wild Card Cristopher Sánchez had been one of the best pitchers to date, but he hasn’t played since the Mets game this September. The Dominican answered all the questions thrown at him by MLB News’ Todd Zolecki about his Game 4 opening with the help of an interpreter. Except for the last one, which he answered in clear, crisp English. He confidently said, “I’ll be ready tomorrow.”

Game 3 might’ve nicked the Phillies’ pride a little bit. This begs the issue of whether they’ll be able to clinch the remaining two games of the series or not. However, based on the players’ words, they’re more than ready to take back the throne when Game 4 kicks off at 8:07 p.m. ET on Friday.

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