May 6, 2024
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kevin Pillar and Orlando Arcia each had run-scoring hits in the 10th inning to move the Atlanta Braves closer to an NL East title with a 10-8 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday in the first game of a doubleheader.
The Braves pulled out after the extra-inning victory after Bryce Harper slugged a two-out, two-run tying homer off Raisel Iglesias (4-4) in the ninth for the NL wild-card leaders.
Trea Turner beat out a two-out grounder to second in the ninth when Ozzie Albies' throw pulled Matt Olson off first base. The play was scored a hit — and set the stage for another Harper memorable moment in the clutch.
The Phillies came up empty in the 10th against Kirby Yates, who earned his fourth save. Jose Alvarado (0-2) took the loss.
The Braves, who have secured at least a wild card and reached the postseason for the sixth straight year, need to win two of three in the rest of the series to clinch their sixth consecutive division title.
The Phillies send Michael Lorenzen (8-9, 3.95 ERA) to the mound in the second game. The Braves did not announce a starter for the second game of the day-night doubleheader.
Turner hit a two-run shot for the Phillies, his 10th homer in the last 11 games.
The Braves would love to clinch the division on the same Citizens Bank Park field where they were eliminated by the Phillies in last season’s NL Division Series. Atlanta’s five-year division title run is the longest active streak in baseball.
Yes, the Phillies — and their fans — point to that NLDS as proof that the regular season can seem inconsequential in October. The Braves won 101 games and the Phillies 87. But the Phillies needed just four games in a lopsided series to move on and eventually reach the World Series.
The Braves won their MLB-best 94th game on Monday and are clicking like a team with serious World Series aspirations.
Two plays show why.
The first came in the first inning. Austin Riley drilled one off the angled wall in left-center that shot the ball back into left field. Riley never stopped busting it around the bases, and when left fielder Jake Cave stopped in his tracks after he failed to grip the ball, Riley was already rounding third. Turner made a wild cutoff throw and Riley slid headfirst into home for a 1-0 lead.
Riley was credited with a triple, Cave an error.
The second came in the fifth. The Braves let a 5-2 lead — built on RBI doubles from Ronald Acuña Jr. and Olson — nearly slip away in the inning. The Phillies cut it to 5-3 when Bryson Stott lofted a high flyball to right that Acuña lost in the afternoon sun. Yes, the ball dropped for a hit, and the Phillies scored a run, but Acuña stuck with the play, picked up the ball and fired a strike to the plate that nailed Alec Bohm for the third out.
The Braves always hustled. They didn’t give up on plays.
Michael Harris II added a two-run shot in the sixth and Acuña followed with his 36th of the season for a 7-4 lead.
