ATLANTA – The Braves’ lineup is more battered and damaged this season than any other club in Major League Baseball.
With their ace on the mound, the Phillies had a prime opportunity to hit the ground running on their six-game road trip and create a significant gap between the two clubs in the NL East.
Instead, the Braves managed to secure a 3-1 victory in the series opener against the Phillies. Their lead in the NL East has shrunk to six games, and the two teams will face each other six more times in the next 12 days (twice in Atlanta, four in Philadelphia).
Reynaldo Lopez returned to the mound for the Braves after spending three weeks on the injured list with elbow inflammation. His action against the Phillies was limited (5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 10 K), but the 30-year-old right-handed pitcher showed why he was voted an All-Star for the first time this season.
He struck out the top hitters (Kyle Schwarber, Trea Turner and Bryce Harper) three times, with Schwarber and Harper getting a strikeout each time. Harper’s third strikeout was also Lopez’s 10th of the night, marking the first time he had double-digit strikeouts since September 5, 2019, when he was with the White Sox.
Whit Merrifield, who often played second base in Ozzie Albies’ absence, welcomed his former team to their new turf with a triple in his first at-bat of the night. Merrifield sent one into the corner in right field – and the combination of his speed and Nick Castellanos’ misjudgment of the ball off the wall allowed the first run of the night.
Michael Harris II reached the first pitch he saw and put the Braves on the scoreboard with a single.
The Phillies’ centerpiece was responsible for all five hits of the night. With all the bases loaded in the second, Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos hit back-to-back singles to start the fourth. JT Realmuto hit one into shallow center, sending Bohm home.
Bohm extended his on-base streak to 36 games on Tuesday, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
Zack Wheeler made his 10th start as a Phillie at Truist Park – and allowed just one other run that night – a solo home run by Marcell Ozuna, his 37th of the season. Given the struggles the Braves have faced offensively this season, Ozuna has been a lightning rod for them in a storm of chaos.
Wheeler’s night ended after six innings in which he allowed six hits and two runs and had eight strikeouts. In all 10 games at this ballpark, Wheeler allowed three or fewer runs and played at least 6.0 innings in nine of them.
If you can’t bring home runners in scoring position…if the offense strikes out 13 times in one night…it doesn’t matter how good your ace on the mound is (and he was very, very good).
Sometimes it’s just not enough.
On deck: Wednesday’s matchup is a mound playoff featuring Aaron Nola (11-6, 3.45 ERA) and Max Fried (7-7, 3.62 ERA). Nola is coming off his strongest start since the All-Star break, holding the Nationals scoreless for 6.2 innings. Most encouragingly, this was his deepest start since June 29 and the first start since June 5 in which he didn’t allow a run.
Cristopher Sanchez (9-8, 3.46 ERA) and Spencer Schwellenbach (4-6, 4.04 ERA) will face off in the series finale on Thursday at 7:08 p.m. Like Nola, Sanchez is coming off his best start of the second half of the season, allowing just one run in a complete game against the Nationals. The Phillies saw Schwellenbach in Atlanta in early July, where he allowed one run on seven hits and earned the win.
The club then travels to Kansas City to conclude the road trip with a weekend series against the Royals. It is the second of four consecutive series for the Phillies against teams currently in playoff contention (Braves (3), Royals (3), Astros (3), Braves (4)).
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