Phillies' 5-run outburst enough to beat Braves
Journeyman Jose Pirela's first homer of the season capped a five-run fourth inning and helped the visiting Philadelphia Phillies post a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.
The Phillies trailed 2-0 before erupting against Atlanta ace Dallas Keuchel in the fourth. Rhys Hoskins started it with a two-run opposite-field homer, his 29th. Cesar Hernandez drove in a run with a ground ball, and Pirela followed with a two-run shot.
Leading 5-3, Philadelphia withstood a ninth-inning rally. Hector Neris gave up a leadoff homer to Adam Duvall, and Atlanta got the tying run to third base when Ronald Acuna Jr. walked, stole second and went to third on a ground ball. But Neris struck out Josh Donaldson and retired Nick Markakis on a popup to earn his 27th save.
Philadelphia (77-72) improved to 9-8 against the Braves this season. The magic number for Atlanta (93-59) to clinch the NL East for the second straight season remained at three.
Philadelphia starter Vince Velasquez (7-7) looked like he was going to get knocked out early when he gave up two runs in the first inning. But the right-hander added four scoreless innings.
In his five innings, he gave up five hits, two walks and struck out eight. It was the most strikeouts for Velasquez since he posted a season-high nine on July 24 against Detroit.
Atlanta starter Dallas Keuchel (8-6) worked five innings and allowed five runs on eight hits and one walk, with two strikeouts. Keuchel had won his last five starts and had allowed only four earned runs in his last six appearances.
The Braves opened the game by scoring two runs in the first. Josh Donaldson's sacrifice fly drove in Ozzie Albies, who had singled, and Matt Joyce added a run-scoring single.
The Braves added a run in the eighth when Adeiny Hechavarria hit a pinch-hit homer, his seventh home run of the season, against Jose Alvarez. It was the club-record 236th home run of the season for the Braves and ended a two-game homerless streak.
--Field Level Media
