By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
Final: Philadelphia Phillies 7, Atlanta Braves 5 ❖ Attendance: 22,785
Atlanta, GA — Coming off of yesterday's embarrassing 11-1 loss to the Miami Marlins, the Philadelphia Phillies (47-57) wanted to get back on track against the Atlanta Braves (35-67). The bats came out swinging against Braves starter Matt Wisler, who has had his fair share of struggles this season. The Phils were able to bat around and score five runs in the first inning. There were three homers in the game, including back-to-back shots in the first inning by Maikel Franco and Tommy Joseph.
Tonight was Aaron Altherr's first game of the season, after suffering a wrist injury during spring training. He looked to be in mid-season form at the plate, going 3 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI. His home-run proved to be crucial, as the Phillies needed both runs supplied by his home-run to secure the victory.
The rare burst of offense overshadowed a sub-par start by Aaron Nola. Despite getting the win, Nola only went five innings and didn't record a single 1-2-3 inning. He allowed the Braves to start chipping away at the Phils' lead during his final inning, and the bullpen didn't exactly shut down the Braves' offense. The only 1-2-3 inning was by set-up man Hector Neris.
WP: Aaron Nola (6-9, 4.78 ERA) ❖ LP: Matt Wisler (4-11, 5.16 ERA) ❖ SV: Jeanmar Gomez (27)
Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next
Game Summary
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| PHI | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
| ATL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 1 |
The Phillies came out swinging in the top of the first. Cesar Hernandez led off the game with a walk and then went to third on a single by Odubel Herrera. Coming into today's game, Maikel Franco was 5 for 9 against Braves starter Matt Wisler. He added a sixth hit against the Braves' hurler with a three-run homer to left field. First baseman Tommy Joseph followed with an opposite field shot to give the Phillies a 4-0 lead. In his first at-bat of the season, Aaron Altherr hit a single to left to bring Carlos Ruiz to the plate. He walked to put runners on first and second, still with no outs. Freddy Galvis provided the first out with a pop-out in foul territory. Cody Asche hit a ball that bounced past Braves second baseman Jace Peterson to give the Phillies another run. The ninth batter of the inning came to the plate in the form of starter Aaron Nola. He attempted to bunt the runners over, but Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman let the ball drop before firing to second base. Shortstop Erick Aybar tagged out Ruiz and stepped on second to retire Asche for the final out.
The offense was silenced until the top of the fifth inning. Joseph hit a two out single to left. Altherr followed with his second hit of the day: a two-run homer to left field. It gave the Phillies a 7-0 lead and further proved that Altherr is healthy and ready to contribute to the struggling offense.
The Braves fought back in the bottom of the inning. Chase d'Arnaud hit what was ruled a triple into center field, despite Herrera completely losing sight of the ball. Freeman followed with a double into the right-center field gap to score d'Arnaud. He moved up to third on a single by Nick Markakis. Third baseman Adonis Garcia followed with the fourth consecutive hit of the inning: a single to right field that scored Freeman. Ender Inciarte grounded into a force out, putting runners on first and third. This gave the Phillies a chance to avoid any more runs scoring and to potentially get out of the jam with a double play. However, that ended up not being the case. Anthony Recker hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Markakis from third. Nola was able to strike-out the Braves' pinch-hitter to end the inning.
The bottom of the sixth provided the Braves with more opportunities to catch up to the Phils. Reliever David Hernandez was able to get the first two outs easily, but struggled after that. He allowed back-to-back walks to Freeman and Markakis. Garcia came to the plate and doubled to score Freeman and move Markakis over to third. After a pitching change, Edubray Ramos was able to retire Inciarte on a single pitch to end the inning.
The Braves attempted to make a comeback during their last at-bat. Inciarte and Recker singled and walked, respectively, to start the inning. Closer Jeanmar Gomez was able to get Aybar to ground into a double play, but Inciarte was able to move to third on the play. Gordon Beckham hit a single to right field to score a run. Gomez was able to strike out Peterson looking to end the game and secure the win.
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Nola | 5.0 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 4.78 |
| Matt Wisler | 5.0 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5.16 |
Phillies
- Maikel Franco: 1-5, R, HR, 3 RBI, .259 AVG
- Tommy Joseph: 2-5, R, HR, RBI, .262 AVG
- Aaron Altherr: 3-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, .750 AVG
Braves
- Freddie Freeman: 2-3, 2 BB, 2 R, 2B, RBI, .283 AVG
- Adonis Garcia: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .269 AVG
- Erick Aybar: 2-4, BB, .221 AVG
Phillies
- David Hernandez (6th): 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.37 ERA
- Edubray Ramos (6th, 7th): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 4.50 ERA
- Hector Neris (8th): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.56 ERA
- Jeanmar Gomez (9th): 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO, 0 HR, 2.83 ERA
Braves
- Matt Marksberry (6th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 6.75 ERA
- Jose Ramirez (7th): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 18.00 ERA
- Hunter Cervenka (8th, 9th): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO, 0 HR, 2.87 ERA
- Joel De La Cruz (9th): 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 0 HR, 4.66 ERA
- Friday, July 29, 2016: at Atlanta Braves, 7:35 p.m.
- Atlanta – Turner Field
- RHP Vince Velasquez (8-2, 3.34 ERA) vs. RHP Tyrell Jenkins (0-2, 6.17 ERA)
- TV: CSN ; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
