The Philadelphia Phillies’ hopes of winning the National League East took a major blow after a 12-2 blowout loss to the Atlanta Braves.
The Philadelphia Phillies suffered a damaging 12-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night at Truist Park, leaving their hopes of winning the National League East in an extremely difficult position with only 13 games remaining.
Philadelphia entered the series four games behind Atlanta, but the gap has now grown to six games. The Phillies fell to 82-67, while the Braves improved to 88-61 and now hold a 9-3 advantage in the season series. Atlanta has also secured the tiebreaker, making Philadelphia’s path to the division title even more improbable.
The Phillies needed a win after losing the series opener in 11 innings, but Saturday’s game quickly unraveled. Bryce Harper provided Philadelphia’s only early highlight when he launched a solo homer in the first inning against Tyler Mahle. Harper’s 34.27-second trip around the bases was his longest undisputed home-run trot since Statcast began tracking such times in 2015.
The Braves answered in the fourth inning with eight runs. Ronald Acuna Jr. started the eruption with a solo shot against Brooks Raley, who suffered his second consecutive loss. After Raley recorded two strikeouts, Ozzie Albies walked and Michael Harris II singled before Grant Holman entered for his first big-league appearance of the season.
Atlanta then capitalized on the the Phillies mistakes. Mauricio Dubon accounted for a two-run single, Drake Baldwin contributed a two-run double, and Bryson Stott committed a throwing error on a play that could have ended the inning. A wild pitch also contributed to the Braves scoring, with five of the eight fourth-inning runs classified as unearned.
Acuna finished the inning with a run-scoring single for his second RBI of the frame. Harris later added a three-run homer in the eighth, while Justin Crawford hit Philadelphia’s second home run of the night in the eighth.
Mahle was otherwise outstanding, allowing only six hits, recording three strikeouts, and issuing no walks across seven innings. Since joining the Braves, he is 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA through seven starts.
The Phillies will now have to turn their attention toward the Wild Card race. They sit as the fifth seed, just one game behind the Chicago Cubs for the top Wild Card spot and 1½ games ahead of the San Diego Padres for the second berth.
The Philadelphia Phillies suffered a damaging 12-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night at Truist Park, leaving their hopes of winning the National League East in an extremely difficult position with only 13 games remaining. Philadelphia entered the series four games behind Atlanta, but the gap has now grown to six games.