Atlanta Braves sweep Saturday doubleheader against Phillies: David Hale solid in first start since April

The Atlanta Braves swept the Phillies today with a 5-1 win on the back of David Hale‘s return to the mound as a starter.

Hale’s performance was the one I was most looking forward to seeing, and he did a solid–albeit, short–job today and held Philadelphia to just one run in five innings of work. He worked around four hits and a walk while striking out three batters. Once the bullpen got involved in the sixth inning, it was over for the Phillies offensively. Anthony Varvaro tossed two shutout innings, Jordan Walden threw a perfectg eighth and Gus Schlosser walked one batter in an otherwise perfect ninth.

The offense kept rolling in the second game for Atlanta, with five hitters going for multi-hit games. Ryan Doumit went 2-4 with a homer and Chris Johnson piled on three hits in four chances. Freddie Freeman, Justin Upton and Tommy La Stella each had two hits as well–both of La Stella’s being doubles.

After a doubleheader with the team’s best catcher uninvolved completely and Jason Heyward missing the second game, it was certainly an encouraging day for the Braves. The offense is showing signs of life with key players missing and the pitching has been solid as well. Granted, it is the Phillies, but in back-to-back series the Braves have taken care of business.

And, there’s still a chance for a sweep tomorrow.

Stay tuned.