Braves Take 2 Out Of 3 Games, But Phillies Break Their Potential Series Sweep With Win

Coming off an 8-5 series finale win in San Diego, the Phillies, now 39-36 on the season, fell short to a very solid Atlanta Braves team in South Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.

Phillies starting pitcher Zach Wheeler pitched 6.1 innings, struck out eight, and gave up 3 earned runs. 

The Phillies’ scoring got going in the bottom of the first when J.T. Realmuto singled to right-center and scored Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins put the Braves’ lead to one, 2-1. In the bottom of the sixth, Obdubel Herrera grounded out to second and scored Didi Gregorius to make the score, 3-2 Braves. 

In the bottom of the sixth innings, Kyle Schwarber smashed one out for a home run to tie the ball game at three.

Things got ugly for the Phillies’ defense in the last two innings of the game as Andrew Bellatti gave up a homer in the eighth and Brad Hand pitched the ninth and gave up another run that made the Braves lead to two, 5-3.

Kyle Schwarber continues to spark at the plate by hitting homers. He has been a big piece aside from Bryce Harper, especially with Harper out of the lineup at the moment with a broken thumb.

It’s crucial for the Phillies to have a better feel at pitching when it gets to be a close game and having to throw to a better line-up in Atlanta. Tuesday’s game didn’t show that this team can overcome anything unless they make things work late in the game and not get their pitch counts up

It wasn’t what Phillies fans expected on a gorgeous Wednesday evening in South Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park as the Atlanta Braves cruised by offensively and kept the bats hot.

The Phillies added Darick Hall from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and he got the start. He didn’t get what the Phillies needed, which were valuable base runners in scoring position but he did get the bat on the ball twice.

Ranger Suarez started for the Phillies and he didn’t pitch well although struck out seven batters. He gave up four earned runs and didn’t have his best stuff that he was trying to limit runners on base. 

The Phillies were hopeful to steal a game on Wednesday evening but the bats were quiet as Rhys Hoskins only got them going in the bottom of the third that made the score 1-0 Phillies.

From the fourth inning to the last pitch, it was a battle for the Phillies bullpen. Late in the game, the Phillies couldn’t score any more runs and the Braves got the victory, 4-1.

But, on a very positive side of things, Phillies reliever Mark Appeal made his first major league start and struck out one batter. It was an awesome moment seeing his brother and sister-in-law’s reaction from the stands smiling and having a great moment. 

Nick Castellanos needs to get out of his hitting slump as he wasn’t productive at the plate as he went 0-4. He seems to be having some trouble getting the contact on the bat that he wants. Hopefully, things with his at-bats can turn around immediately.

Can Bryson Stott get going again or not? It’s not exactly like what it’s been like in the past with his hitting as he has been in a slump and isn’t feeling that comfortable at-bat. It’ll be interesting to see how he does in the coming weeks as the season progresses more.

It was a fun, exciting evening in South Philadelphia as the Phillies routed the Braves. The bats woke up on Thursday evening and everything fell into place.

Aaron Nola got the start for the Phillies and he pitched an amazing game although he gave up four runs. But, he went seven innings and struck out eight batters.

The scoring for Philadelphia all began in the bottom of the second as Alec Bohm, Bryson Stott, and Matt Vierling all got on base with base hits and drove in runs which made the score 6-1 Phillies. In addition to those runs, Nick Castellanos finally got out of his home run slump and hit a bomb to right field that made the score 7-1.

In the bottom of the third, Kyle Schwarber hit one out to right for a three-run home run that made the score 10-1 Phillies. Seconds later, Rhys Hoskins came up to the plate and smoked one out and went back-to-back and made the score 11-1.

In the bottom of the fourth, Darick Hall made a big impact tonight as he homered to right field that made the score 12-1. 

Aaron Nola gave up a couple of runs from the fifth to the seventh inning, but it wasn’t bad as Philadelphia had a good lead and wasn’t worried about it.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Darick Hall hit a home run, which was his second homer of the night, and extended the Phillies’ lead to 14-4.

The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 14-4. 

Darick Hall seemed to feel a lot comfortable in the batter’s box. He looked like another Bryce Harper with those arms getting through the ball. It was amazing to see. Hope that we can see more home runs by him.

Kyle Schwarber is continuing to make a huge impact as he blasted one which I mentioned above. He has been the target of this team and his success is making an impact with winning games. We will see how good his home run game is starting Friday since it’s the start of a new month.