Braves vs. Phillies Series Recap (8/12 – 8/14)

Game 1:  Phillies 5, Braves 1

Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

The first game in this series was basically the Cole Hamels show.  Hamels pitched a complete game, losing the shutout in the 9th, and reached base twice himself to thoroughly dominate the Braves.  Hamels walked and tripled at the plate, and struck out 9 Braves on the hill while holding down the sizzling Braves offense.  Julio Teheran was on the mound for the Braves and didn’t pitch too terribly bad, but gave up a 3-run home run to Cody Asche in the 6th inning of a 1-0 game that broke things open. The way Hamels was pitching, 4-0 was probably gonna hold up, and it certainly did.  Chris Johnson and Jason Heyward each had multi-hit games to pace an otherwise weak hitting attack for Atlanta.  The Braves could only touch up Hamels for a run in the 9th when Justin Upton doubled and Chris Johnson doubled him in.  The offense only had 6 hits, but at least 4 of them were doubles.  The win was the 1,000th of Phillies manager Charlie Manual’s career. The game was also overshadowed by a fan who fell from one of the concourses at Turner Field into the players parking area about 65 feet below.  He unfortunately passed away later at the hospital due to injuries from the fall.

Game 2:  Braves 3, Phillies 1

Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports

Kris Medlen (10-10) won his 4th straight start and helped himself with an RBI double in the Braves 3-1 victory over the Phillies.  Medlen pitched into the 8th and kept the Phils bat off-balance all night.  He totalled 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, 1 run, 1 BB and stuck out 5.  Chris Johnson socked a 2-run homer, his 9th of the season, to give the Braves a 3-0 lead in the 3rd inning and Medlen cruised from there.  Jason Heyward and Justin Upton both collected 2 hits, including doubles for each to lead the Braves attack.  David Carpenter threw yet another perfect inning in the 8th with Jordan Walden still recovering, and Craig Kimrel closed the door in the 9th for his 37th save of the season.  Tyler Pastornicky started at 2nd base and was expected to take over there while Dan Uggla is on the DL having Lasik surgery until he was injured later in the series (see below).

Game 3:  Braves 6, Phillies 3

Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Jason Heyward led off the bottom of the 1st with his first career lead-off homer to continue his torrid streak as the Braves new lead-off menace.  Heyward followed up that homer with a double in the 2nd and scored again on a Chris Johnson single with the bases loaded and 2 outs to give starter Brandon Beachy a 5-0 lead before he even took the mound in the 3rd inning. Since Heyward was moved into the lead-off spot (18 games) he is putting up a ridiculous slash line of .382/.455/.603 (1.057 OPS) with 20 runs, 12 RBI and 9 extra-base hits.

Beachy wasn’t too shabby himself.  Making his 4th start since coming off the DL, Beachy seems to look better every time. He went 6 innings and only gave up 2 runs on a homer to Dom Brown in his last inning.  Overall, he gave up 6 hits and didn’t walk anyone while striking out 4.  Beachy said that he is now starting to work his slider in more and is getting more and more comfortable with his command on all his pitches.  Seems like the best is still yet to come for Brandon.  David Carpenter went in to finish off the Phils in the 9th, but ran into some rare trouble by giving up a lead-off homer to Ruf and walking Asche before being removed for Craig Kimbrel.  Kimbrel promptly shut the door on the Phils and earned his 38th save of the season and 28th in a row.  Tyler Pastornicky, who was just called up to take Dan Uggla’s spot at second with he is on the DL left the game when he collided with Heyward with a sprained knee.  He is supposed to be re-evaluated today, but it doesn’t look too promising.

—–

The Braves have now won 8 of their 12 meetings with the Phillies this season and still have 7 games remaining. Atlanta has won 17 of their last 19 games overall, and have the best record in the majors at 74-47.  They also have the best home record in the majors at 42-17, and it sure would be nice to have home field advantage through the playoffs.