Alec Bohm delivered the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as the host Philadelphia Phillies nipped the Atlanta Braves 2-1 on Friday.
One night after tying a team record with seven home runs — including four by Kyle Schwarber — in a 19-4 win, the Phillies only mustered six hits, all singles, in this one. Schwarber was once again in the middle of the action with a hit, a walk and two runs.
Braves starter Bryce Elder received a no-decision despite allowing only one run and three hits over seven innings. He walked two and struck out three. Matt Olson had three hits for Atlanta, while Ozzie Albies and Nick Allen notched two hits apiece.
After Elder exited, Atlanta summoned Dylan Lee (2-4) out of the bullpen for the eighth inning. The left-hander retired the first batter before allowing base hits to Schwarber and Bryce Harper. That prompted the Braves to call upon Pierce Johnson, who retired Bohm on a fly ball to deep right as Schwarber scored easily.
Philadelphia closer Jhoan Duran retired all three batters he faced in the ninth, including a strikeout of Olson to end the game. Duran logged his 24th save of the year, his eighth since joining the Phillies.
The visitors cracked the scoreboard in the second inning against Philadelphia starter Ranger Suarez. Sean Murphy led off with a double, advanced to third on Allen’s one-out hit and scored on Jurickson Profar’s single up the middle.
The Braves again made some noise in the fourth inning. Nacho Alvarez Jr. singled with one out and Allen followed with a single of his own before Suarez induced Profar into an inning-ending double play.
That escape set the stage for the Phillies’ tying rally in the bottom of the fourth. Schwarber led off with a walk and advanced when Harper bunted for a hit. Two batters later, Brandon Marsh hooked a single into right-center field to draw the hosts even.
Suarez gave up two hits in the fifth, relying again on a double play to escape. This time it was right fielder Nick Castellanos who caught Marcell Ozuna’s fly ball and nabbed Olson at the plate to end the inning.
From there, the Philadelphia bullpen took over. David Robertson logged a 1-2-3 sixth inning and Matt Strahm worked around two baserunners in the seventh. Orion Kerkering (7-4) took care of matters in the eighth.
Suarez allowed only one run despite yielding 10 hits in five innings. He fanned two and walked one.
