Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Phillies hold off Braves to split doubleheader

Brandon Marsh homered in Game 2 of the doubleheader against the Braves. (Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire)

Final Score: Phillies 7, Braves 5

After squandering yet another magical late-game hit by Bryce Harper in Game 1 of the doubleheader against the Braves, the Phillies badly needed to salvage something positive out of the day and secure a victory to maintain their lead in the Wild Card standings.

The offense did enough damage against Braves starter Kyle Wright, Michael Lorenzen survived five innings against the lethal Atlanta lineup and the bullpen did its job to hold on to a 7-5 victory.

Depending on the results of the Colorado-Chicago game in Denver, the Phillies will either gain a half game or lose a half game on the Cubs by the end of the night for the top Wild Card spot in the National League.

The Phillies scored four runs in the first to take an early lead. It was never going to be enough against the Braves offense, but it was a good start. Back-to-back singles from Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner and a walk by Bryce Harper set up bases loaded and no outs for J.T. Realmuto.

He hit a fly ball to right field that nearly cleared the fence for a grand slam. The Phillies settled for a sac fly to open the scoring. Two batters later, Nick Castellanos drove in an additional run on a single. Edmundo Sosa, who came into the game with a .359 slugging percentage against right-handed pitching, doubled to drive in Castellanos and Bryson Stott to make it 3-0.

The Phillies added on in the fourth against Wright with an RBI triple by Jake Cave. The seventh Phillies run of the game scored on a solo home run by Brandon Marsh, his first round tripper since Aug. 26.

It was a better outing for starter Michael Lorenzen, who allowed four runs over five innings. All of those runs came on home runs from Braves slugger Matt Olson, who hit home runs No. 49 and 50.

The first came in the third inning when he went down and barreled a low slider off the Toyota sign in right field. He homered to the opposite field in left to end Lorenzen’s night in the fifth.

“One bad pitch to Olson. One really good pitch for a three-run homer, but he’s a really good hitter,” Lorenzen said after the game.

Lorenzen’s season ERA is at 4.06.

“My stuff feels great. It’s coming out good. I’ve had worse times with my stuff, earlier in the year, during the year, but I just had better results,” Lorenzen said. “I just have to trust that the results will eventually get better.”

This could be Lorenzen’s last start out of the rotation this season as the Phillies are expected to break up the six-man rotation in the next few days. Lorenzen and Cristopher Sánchez could piggyback each other the next time through.

Sánchez was actually throwing in the bullpen in the bottom of the eighth alongside Craig Kimbrel.

When asked about it after the game, Rob Thomson said Sánchez was available for one inning if the Phillies needed it, but Sánchez was not warming up with the intent of coming into the game. He was throwing his scheduled bullpen session.

“That way after an 18-hour day, we’re not keeping people after the game,” Thomson said.

Jeff Hoffman came in and extended his scoreless streak to nine games. The only baserunner of the inning came on a throwing error from Sosa.

Michael Harris II made it a two-run game on a two-out, two strike home run against Gregory Soto in the eighth. It was only the second home run and fourth extra-base hit Soto has allowed to a lefty this year.

Matt Strahm, despite getting squeezed with a couple of calls against Olson, pitched a superb eighth inning.

“We’ve put him in some tough spots,” Thomson said about Strahm. “We’ve used him a lot and I was thinking fatigue was setting in, but we’ve put him in some tough where he comes in the dirty innings and tries to get out of it, but that was really clean tonight. His stuff, you can see some more electricity to his stuff tonight than I’ve seen in his last three or four outings.”

Kimbrel came in and allowed the tying run to reach on a Nicky Lopez single with two outs, but retired Ronald Acuña Jr. on a putout to first base.

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