Braves Beat Phillies 5-2 in Series Opener
The Atlanta Braves defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, extending their lead in the National League East to five games. Chris Sale outdueled Cristopher Sánchez in a matchup of two of baseball's best pitchers, as reported by the Associated Press.
Sale allowed two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts and a walk. Sánchez took the loss, surrendering three runs in six innings on five hits and three walks while striking out five.
Ronald Acuña had three hits and drove in a run, and Mauricio Dubón homered for the Braves, who won for the ninth time in 11 games. Alec Bohm homered and doubled, driving in both runs for the Phillies, who lost for just the fourth time in 19 games.
Game Highlights
Atlanta scored three of its runs off Sánchez in the second inning on Austin Riley's RBI single, Ha-Seong Kim's groundout, and Acuña's RBI double. The Phillies got a run back in the bottom of the inning on Bohm's RBI double and pulled within 3-2 in the fourth on his one-out solo drive to left.
Philadelphia had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the fifth and sixth innings but could not score off Sale. After Dubón hit a two-run shot in the eighth off Orion Kerkering, Raisel Iglesias pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 30th save.
Lineup Changes and Context
Interim manager Don Mattingly decided to turn to his bench for Game 1 against the left-handed Sale, according to Sports Illustrated. All-Star Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford, both left-handed hitters, were not in the starting lineup. Edmundo Sosa started in left field and batted sixth, while Derek Hill manned center field and batted ninth.
The rest of the lineup saw Kyle Schwarber leading off as designated hitter, Trea Turner batting second, Bryce Harper batting third and playing right field, Luis Arraez batting cleanup at second base, Bohm playing first base and batting fifth, Bryson Stott batting seventh, and J.T. Realmuto batting eighth. Bryson Stott was a late scratch from the lineup due to personal reasons, as reported by the Associated Press.
Harper went 0 for 4, ending his career-best 35-game on-base streak.
Series Stakes
The teams were meeting for the first time since April 26, when the Phillies dropped to 9-19 and fired manager Rob Thomson. Since then, the two-time defending NL East champion Phillies have gone 70-43 under Mattingly. Friday's matchup was the opener of a four-game series and the first of seven games in the next 10 between the clubs.
Entering the series, the Phillies trailed the Braves by four games in the division and held the No. 1 spot in the NL Wild Card race, a half-game ahead of the Chicago Cubs, according to Sports Illustrated.
Up Next
Braves lefty Martín Pérez opposes Philadelphia righty Zack Wheeler on Saturday night.