By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
When the 2018 MLB schedule came out, it was a fairly insignificant note that the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves were slated to meet 12 times in the first two months of the season. Little did anyone know that the two upstart teams would establish themselves as contenders in the National League before the end of the first 12 meetings.
The Phillies entered this week's three-game set against the Braves a game-and-a-half back of Atlanta for the National League East lead, with a third of their 18 losses having come against the Braves. So the Phillies handed Nick Pivetta the ball in the first game of a six-game home-stand, looking to turn the tide against their divisional foes. And boy, did he deliver.
Final: Phillies 3, Braves 0
WP: Nick Pivetta (4-2) ❖ LP: Mike Foltynewicz (3-3) ❖ S: Hector Neris (9)
Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| ATL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| PHI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
There may not have been one inning where the Phillies offense really got to Mike Foltynewicz Monday, but the one key hit the Phillies got against the righty proved to be crucial.
In the bottom of the first inning, Cesar Hernandez extended his team-leading on-base streak to 25 games with a leadoff walk. However, Hernandez wasn't on base long. Rhys Hoskins, batting in the No. 2 hole for Gabe Kapler, just missed hitting a home run in the following at-bat. Instead, former Phillie Ender Inciarte put the fly-ball away on the warning track and threw a seed to second base, nailing an indecisive Hernandez, who had decided too late for his own good to tag up:
GOLD GLOVE WINNER DOING GOLD GLOVE THINGS. pic.twitter.com/SMjwxkaYVT
— FOX Sports South (@FOXSportsSouth) May 21, 2018
Nonetheless, the Phillies continued to chip away at Foltynewicz, who was forced to throw 105 pitches in six innings. While he lowered his ERA on the season to 2.72 with his start Monday, he got the loss, thanks to a fourth inning home run from Nick Williams:
Oppo boppo pic.twitter.com/iwUjpVIm1z
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 22, 2018
In the home half of the seventh inning, the scripts flipped a bit. For much of this season, Williams has provided key hits off of the bench, while Aaron Altherr started in right field. With Williams getting the start tonight in right field, Altherr didn't get a chance to bat until the bottom of the seventh inning. In his lone at-bat of the game, Altherr gave the Phillies two insurance runs:
Altherr MOONSHOT. 3-0 Phillies. pic.twitter.com/1coi0Rc1nB
— chris jones¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@LONG_DRIVE) May 22, 2018
Three runs proved to be all the Phillies needed in the first game of the series, as Nick Pivetta turned in a dominant performance against the Braves.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Foltynewicz | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 2.72 |
| Nick Pivetta | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 3.23 |
What would the 2018 season be if a few weeks went by without Nick Pivetta and Mike Foltynewicz squaring off? Monday was already the 10th time this season that the Phillies have played the Braves. 40 percent of those games have had the starting pitching matchup of Pivetta and Foltynewicz.
In their fourth matchup of the season, Pivetta and Foltynewicz didn't disappoint.
Foltynewicz, after running into a bit of trouble in the first inning, lasted six innings, while allowing just one run. He was forced to throw 105 pitches, but he gave the division-leading Braves a chance to win.
Unfortunately for the man affectionaly dubbed "Folty," Pivetta was even better.
Despite using 46 pitches to get through the first two frames, Pivetta lasted seven innings, allowing just four hits and no runs. Throughout the course of the season, Pivetta has demonstrated an impressive ability to push through starts where he doesn't have his best stuff. For the first three innings tonight, it looked as though it was that kind of night. However, Pivetta settled in, retiring 12 of the final 13 batters he faced on the evening.
Pivetta, who posted a 6.02 ERA in 26 starts in 2017, has now lowered his ERA to 3.23, thanks in large part to the one run that he's allowed across his last 14 innings.
As SportsRadio 94 WIP's Jack Fritz noted today, Gabe Kapler may be best served not naming Seranthony Dominguez the team's closer, but rather using him in an Andrew Miller-esque role. That's exactly what happened Monday, as Dominguez got the ball from Pivetta to Hector Neris. In the process, he navigated through the toughest part of the Braves lineup, including striking out Freddie Freeman to end the inning.
Neris made quick work of the Braves in the ninth inning, recording his ninth save of the season and helping the Phillies to their 27th win of the 2018 campaign.
