Phillies lose 4th straight game in last-week collapse, will play for NL wild card in season finale

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Aaron Nola was hit hard on two days' rest and the Phillies' bullpen unraveled in a 12-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday night, forcing Philadelphia to try and salvage a final-week collapse and play for an NL wild-card berth on the last day of the season.

Philadelphia had a 6 1/2-game lead over Arizona for the third NL wild card on Sept. 1 before going into a tailspin that now includes four straight losses. The Diamondbacks lost 10-7 at San Diego on Saturday night and remain one game back of the Phillies for the final wild card.

The Diamondbacks hold the tiebreaker over Philadelphia, so the Phillies still need a win Sunday or an Arizona loss to reach the postseason.

Philadelphia will turn to Zack Wheeler on Sunday to try and finally clinch its fifth straight playoff berth and avoid the franchise's worst collapse since 1964. The Phillies are 9-14 in September.

With the Phillies’ attempt at clinching an NL wild card teetering on an epic meltdown, Nola (7-12) was hit hard on just about every ball in play and left trailing 3-0 after pitching only one inning.

Junior Caminero hit a two-run homer in the first inning and Richie Palacios added an RBI double for a 3-0 lead. Caminero’s 42nd homer gave him 101 RBIs for the AL East champion Rays.

Palacios had four RBIs and Victor Mesa Jr. had his first four-hit game.

The Phillies used six relievers. José Alvarado was voraciously booed off the mound after the beleaguered lefty gave up three runs in the fifth inning. José Urquidy allowed three runs in the sixth to make it 10-0 and most Phillies fans — some of whom wore brown paper bags over their heads — fled for the exits on a rainy night.

Rays starter Griffin Jax took a line drive from Philadelphia’s Trea Turner off his lower back and left the game after three innings.

The Phillies had a runner on second and two outs when Turner drilled a 104-mph line drive off Jax. The ball ricocheted to shortstop Taylor Walls, who threw out Turner for the third out of the inning.

Jax was relieved by Steven Matz (6-6), who pitched a scoreless inning.

The Phillies snapped their 21-inning scoreless streak on an unearned run in the seventh.

The Rays finish with RHP Nick Martinez (15-5, 2.94 ERA) on the mound.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Tampa Bay Rays' Yandy Diaz reacts after his double during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero hits a two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Tampa Bay Rays' Junior Caminero, left, runs after his two-run home run against Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola, back right, during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Tampa Bay Rays' Richard Palacios hits an RBI double during the first inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

Tampa Bay Rays' Cedric Mullins, right, follows through on a single during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson)

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on an ambulance attending the scene of a suicide bomb attack at a roadside police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan that killed at least 12 people on Saturday and wounded about 35 others, officials said.

The attack involving an explosives-laden vehicle occurred in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the provincial emergency service. Local police chief Safdar Baloch said most of those killed and wounded were security personnel and passersby.

The blast destroyed the sprawling checkpoint, and witnesses said gunshots were also heard after the attack.

Faizi said gunmen opened fire on an ambulance as emergency crews transported victims to a nearby hospital, killing a rescue worker and wounding two others. Two women and a child were among those killed in the suicide bombing, he said.

The Pakistani Taliban, formally known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has experienced a surge in militant violence in recent years, much of it claimed by the TTP and the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, a separatist group primarily active in neighboring Balochistan province.

The TTP is separate from but closely allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, which returned to power in 2021.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, offered condolences to the victims’ families.

Zardari described the targeting of civilians and law enforcement personnel as “highly condemnable” and called for intensified action against the Pakistani Taliban, which he accused of carrying out “heinous and brutal acts” with foreign support.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of allowing TTP members to operate from Afghan territory and have demanded that Kabul prevent cross-border attacks. Afghan authorities deny permitting their territory to be used for attacks against other countries.

Saturday’s bombing came two days after fighting along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters, according to Pakistan’s government. The clash followed Pakistani strikes this week on suspected militant hideouts inside Afghanistan.

The renewed hostilities threaten mediation efforts by China, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing lasting peace between the neighboring countries.

Dera Ismail Khan is near South Waziristan, a former militant stronghold where Pakistan’s military has conducted several operations in recent years.

Militants frequently target security forces in the region. In December 2023, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the main gate of a police station in Dera Ismail Khan, killing at least 23 security personnel in one of the area’s deadliest attacks. Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, a small militant group believed to be an offshoot of the TTP, claimed responsibility.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

In this photo taken with a smartphone, volunteers transport an injured victim of a suicide attack on a roadside police checkpoint upon his arrival at a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Kashif Naveed)

In this photo taken with a smartphone, volunteers transport an injured victim of a suicide attack on a roadside police checkpoint upon his arrival at a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Kashif Naveed)

In this photo taken with a smartphone, volunteers transport an injured victim of a suicide attack on a roadside police checkpoint upon his arrival at a hospital in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Kashif Naveed)