The Philadelphia Phillies had a road playoff win within reach. Instead, they left Truist Park facing elimination after a crushing 5-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday.

Jesus Luzardo supplied five innings of one-run baseball, and JT Realmuto’s seventh-inning triple gave the Phillies a late 3-2 lead. Those efforts ultimately went to waste as the club squandered its late lead.

Jhoan Duran, Bryce Harper, and Derek Hill bear the most responsibility for letting that opportunity slip away.

Jhoan Duran surrenders the decisive home run

Duran retired his first five batters, leaving the Phillies four outs from victory. Then Michael Harris II reached on an infield single, Duran hit Ozzie Albies, and Austin Riley launched a first-pitch fastball for a three-run homer.

The sequence makes Duran the clearest choice. An infield hit offered the Braves an opening, but the hit-by-pitch increased the damage before Riley delivered the knockout blow.

Don Mattingly’s decision to summon his closer in the seventh deserves examination. However, the 28-year-old flamethrower needed only 11 pitches that inning, and the manager’s plan called for him to cover the seventh and eighth.

The Phillies entrusted their top reliever with the game’s most important outs. Duran retired his first five batters before the next three reached, capped by Riley’s go-ahead homer. He finished with three earned runs in two innings, turning a late lead into a crushing loss.

Bryce Harper leaves the Phillies wanting more

Harper went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and failed to draw a walk after leading the National League with 107 during the regular season. Batting third, he never reached base, leaving the Phillies without an offensive contribution from their two-time NL MVP.

His first-inning strikeout came with Kyle Schwarber aboard. Alec Bohm followed with an RBI double, supplying the timely hit Harper could not produce.

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Facing Chris Sale presents a difficult assignment, but the challenge applies to everyone. Schwarber reached twice, while Bohm and Realmuto drove in all three runs.

Harper needed to help extend those opportunities. Four empty at-bats forced the Phillies to protect a lead with no cushion.

Derek Hill misses a costly defensive opportunity

Hill’s 0-for-3 afternoon would make him a secondary concern by itself. His missed opportunity in center field adds another reason for scrutiny.

In the sixth, Albies drove Alex McFarlane’s pitch toward the wall. Hill appeared to jump too high, and the ball struck his wrist below his glove. The resulting RBI triple gave the Braves a 2-1 lead.

The catch required a difficult play, but Hill reached the ball and could not secure it. Preventing that run would have helped a lineup struggling to create separation.

The Phillies later reclaimed the lead, so Hill’s miss carries less weight than Duran’s collapse. Still, his combined shortcomings at the plate and in the field helped leave Philadelphia vulnerable when its closer cracked.

The Phillies now need back-to-back wins in Atlanta, starting Wednesday, to keep their season alive. After wasting a chance to take control of the series, they need sharper execution on the mound, at the plate, and in the field.