Given how difficult the month of September has been, maybe the Braves should have known the end would prove to be this painful. Just when it seemed they would get one more opportunity to make for the ones they had squandered over the previous few weeks, their offense once again went silent and Craig Kimbrel experienced one of his worst appearances of his record-setting rookie season. Long after Kimbrel had blown a ninth-inning lead at Turner Field Wednesday night, Hunter Pence victimized Scott Linebrink with a soft single that proved to be the crushing blow for the Braves as they suffered a season-ending 4-3, 13-inning loss to the Phillies. Had Atlanta won Wednesday, it would have played the Cardinals in a one-game tiebreaker in St. Louis to determine which team would serve as the National League's Wild Card entrant.