Braves vs. Phillies Series Recap (8/2-8/4)

Game 1: Braves 6, Phillies 4

Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

The Braves fell behind early when Kris Medlen gave up back-to-back homers in the second inning, but they used their own version of back-to-back homers from Brian McCann and Chris Johnson to take the lead with a 5 run 5th inning.  Medlen pitched okay as he went 6 innings giving up 4 ER(3 solo homers) but did strike out 8 Phillies.  David Carpenter, Jordan Walden and Craig Kimbrel whiffed 7 of the 9 Phillies hitters they faced to close out the game with 3 perfect innings.  The Braves got multi-hit games from Heyward, McCann and Johnson to pace the offense and lead the Braves to their 8th straight victory.

Game 2: Braves 5, Phillies 4

Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Braves had to stretch the game to 12 innings to extend their winning streak to 9 in a game 2 victory over the Phillies.  In his second game back from the DL Brandon Beachy had all eyes focused on him.  Many were watching carefully because of his terrible, but explainable, first start off the DL against the Rockies.  The way the game started didn’t make anyone feel any better as Beachy gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead after the first 2 innings.  After that he settled down and blanked the Phils over the next 4 frames.  Overall Beachy went 6.1 innings allowing 4 runs(3 earned) on 5 hits, walking 2 and whiffing 4.  It was a nice step in the right direction for Brandon.  Justin Upton continued his resurgence with a solo HR in the 3rd inning.  Justin also walked twice and scored 3 runs.  Chris Johnson saw his streak of multi-hit games finally end, but perhaps more unlikely he actually walked twice.  I’ll take it.  It was a bad offensive game for both teams as there were only 12 total hits in the game over the 12 innings.  This game was also the return of BJ Upton to the Braves lineup.  BJ played all 12 innings in CF and went 1-5 with a walk and 2 Ks.  The Braves finally broke through in the top of the 12th with when J Upton, Gattis and Janish all walked and Justin scored on a bases loaded ground-out by Dan Uggla for the winning run.  Kimbrel finished the Phils off in the bottom of the inning to earn his 2nd save of the series and 33rd of the season.  Hats off to the Braves bullpen for pitching the final 5.2 innings only allowing 2 hits, 2 walks and 5 Ks.

Game 3: Braves 4, Phillies 1

Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

In the series finale, Alex Wood bested Cliff Lee and the Braves earned their 10th victory in a row and moved to a season high 22 games over .500 and a 12.5 game NL East lead over the Nats.  Alex Wood was masterful going 6 innings and only allowing 2 hits while keeping the Phillies offense off-balance all night.  The Braves started their scoring in the 1st when Chris Johnson singled in 2 runs with 2 outs.  Johnson collected two more hits to start another multi-hit game streak and raise his NL Leading Average to .346.  The Braves added 2 more runs in the 4th despite a controversial call from the umpires.  BJ Upton hit what was called a home run at the time, but after the umpires reviewed the play, for far too long by the way, they decided that a fan interfered with the ball in play and only awarded BJ with a double.  The review was inconclusive at best and almost screwed the Braves out of a run if not for some great two out hitting from Jason Heyward and Justin Upton to add two more runs to the Braves lead.  So ultimately the call didn’t matter, but it was a bad one.  The Upton brothers both went 2-4.

The Braves now lead the season series with the Phillies 6-3 and still play them 10 more times with 7 of those games at Turner Field.

Braves Series Stats:

• Heyward:  3/9, 3 runs, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K
• J Upton:  4/13, 4 runs, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR
• Freeman:  3/15, 1 run, 2 RBI, 1 K
• McCann:  3/9, 1 run, 2 RBI, 4 K, 1 HR
• C Johnson:  4/11, 1 run, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
• Uggla:  1/12, 1 run, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K
• Simmons:  1/12, 2 runs, 2 BB
• BJ Upton:  3/9, 1 run, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 SB

• Braves Bullpen total:  11.2 innings pitched, only 4 hits, 3 walks, 15 Ks and ZERO runs.  OUTSTANDING!
• Kimbrel: 3 IP, 2 hits, 5 Ks, 3 Saves