Phillies clinch second straight winning season with shutout of Braves

Final: Phillies 1, Braves 0

The Philadelphia Phillies have bigger goals than winning 82 games, but for a franchise that didn’t post a winning record in a single season between 2012 and 2020, there is a small victory in clinching your second consecutive winning season.

That’s exactly what the Phillies did Thursday, riding excellent pitching to a series-opening victory over the division-rival Atlanta Braves.

A night after he went 5-5 and delivered a walk-off hit, Matt Vierling got the Phillies on the board in the bottom of the second inning, plating J.T. Realmuto on a sacrifice fly.

That proved to be the game’s lone run. While a disastrous night from home plate umpire Andy Fletcher threatened to be the story of the game, Phillies pitching prevented that by turning in one of their best performances of the season.

Ranger Suárez pitched six shutout inning, before handing the ball off to Zach Eflin in the seventh.

It hasn’t taken Eflin long to get adjusted to pitching out of the bullpen, as he struck out three batters over 1 2/3 hitless innings in the series opener.

While it appeared Eflin potentially had enough gas to finish the game, Rob Thomson turned to José Alvarado with two outs in the eighth inning and Matt Olson at the plate. Alvarado got Olson to pop up in foul territory on the first pitch he threw, with Alec Bohm ultimately making a snow cone catch to end the frame.

Alvarado returned for the ninth inning, closing out a win that saw Phillies pitchers allow just six total hits to the Braves.

With the win, the Phillies improve to 82-67, clinching their second consecutive winning season. They are now just a half game back of the San Diego Padres for the second Wild Card spot in the National League, and remain 2 1/2 games ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers for the final spot in the senior circuit postseason.

Meanwhile, the Braves drop to 93-57. If things hold as is, Atlanta will run away with the top Wild Card spot in the NL. However, the defending World Series Champions are now a 1 1/2 games back of the New York Mets for the NL East lead.

The Phillies and Braves will continue their weekend series Friday evening, with Aaron Nola slated to square off with Jake Odorizzi.

Shibe Vintage Sports Starting Pitching Performance

• Max Fried struck out eight batters and allowed just one run in the series opener, but was knocked out after just five innings because his pitch count had reached 107.
• Ranger Suárez pitched six shutout innings for the Phillies Thursday, allowing just five hits and striking out four. His ERA on the season now sits at 3.38.

Phillies Nugget Of The Game

Ranger Suárez on the mound for his 27th start. Gold Glove ballots were distributed this week; Suárez was omitted. Rawlings set the innings threshold at 138; Suárez was 3 1/3 IP short at time of ballot printing. He leads all pitchers in DRS. Doesn't seem right.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) September 22, 2022

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Friday, Sept. 23 vs. Braves at Citizens Bank Park
• 7:05 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
• Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680

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