Phillies Blasted by Braves
By Matt Veasey
6. 7. 17. Final. 1
The Philadelphia Phillies dropped a 7-1 decision to the visiting Atlanta Braves on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.
It was just one of those nights. At least that is what these potentially over-achieving Phillies hope. On Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, the visiting Braves crushed the Phils by a 7-1 final score.
There were many culprits on the bad side for the Fightins’ in this one, take your pick. Starting pitcher Aaron Nola allowed seven hits and walked two while striking out six batters.
Nola (3-3) allowed a pair of home runs, a two-out, two-run shot by Freddie Freeman in the top of the 3rd inning, and a two-run blast by Nick Markakis in the top of the 7th that opened up a close game to a 5-1 lead for Atlanta.
“Solo home runs are better,” Nola said afterward per MLB.com contributor Stephen Pianovich. “That kind of hurt me, those two, two-run home runs. I made some mistakes. That ball to Freddie leaked over the plate too much, I was trying to go a little farther inside. And that ball to Markakis, I left it over the middle.”
The offense was of no help, which has not been unusual on the season. The Phillies mustered just five hits and two walks off Braves starter Matt Wisler on the night, and barely made a dent in the Atlanta bullpen. Wisler went 6.2 innings and struck out seven Phils’ batters.
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In the top of the 9th, Freeman put an exclamation mark on the decisive Braves victory by lining his 2nd homer of the game, his 8th of the year, out over the left field fence off Brett Oberholtzer.
Oberholtzer had been pitching well since beginning the season poorly. His last three outings were scoreless, and he had allowed just four hits over six innings pitched before tonight.
The lone Phillies tally came in the bottom of the 1st inning, and gave the club an early 1-0 lead off Wisler. Maikel Franco drove a one out double that moved Cesar Hernandez over to 3rd base. Hernandez then scored on a Ryan Howard ground out for the game’s first run.
It would be the last real highlight for the Phillies on this gorgeous weather night in South Philly. With the loss, the Phils dropped two games in back of the first place Washington Nationals in the NL East race.