Hellickson strong as Phillies hold on to beat Braves

Theo DeRosa

April 21 2017

By Theo DeRosa, Sports Talk Philly staff

Final: Phillies 4, Braves 3

PHILADELPHIA—Odúbel Herrera ended Jace Peterson's hopes of an extra-base hit and landed on his backside a couple feet short of the 398 sign in right center field.

Herrera took a somewhat circuitous route to Peterson's fly ball into the gap with one out in the eighth and a 4-2 Phillies lead, leaped to make an over-the-shoulder catch at the last second, and fell into a bemused, sitting position on the reddish dirt of the warning track.

His play, on what looked from the broadcast camera like a surefire extra-base hit, preserved a win in the series opener for the Phils. Herrera had a tough night at the plate, but the top of the Phillies' order picked him up as Jeremy Hellickson pitched seven strong innings of three-hit ball.

A rain delay in the ninth separated the Phillies from the win for 24 minutes, but they hung on for a one-run victory in the first game of the series against the Braves.

In the top of the ninth, Héctor Neris ended up seated, too: He struck out Tyler Flowers with two runners on base, two out, and a full count to preserve the save and give the Phillies a 4-3 win.

WP: Jeremy Hellickson (3-0, 1.88) ❖ LP: Bartolo Colón (1-2, 4.50) ❖ S: Neris (2)

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
ATL	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	3	6	0
PHI	0	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	X	4	11	0

Michael Saunders doubled with one out in the second inning. Tommy Joseph's groundout moved Saunders to third, then Freddy Galvis hit a chopper that bounced off Colón and brought home Saunders on the infield single.

The Phillies doubled their lead in the third as César Hernández singled, the first of his three hits in the game, and Aaron Altherr stayed hot with a double into the gap that scored Hernández from first. Odúbel Herrera's flyout moved Altherr to third, from which he scored on Joseph's two-out, two-strike base hit the other way.

Former Phillies Rule 5 Draft pick Ender Inciarte doubled, stole third and scored on a single from Adonis García to plate the Braves' first run in the fourth against Hellickson, who lasted seven innings and gave up two runs. The other came on a towering home run from red-hot Freddie Freeman in the sixth.

The Phillies found insurance in the bottom of the seventh when Hernández led off with a double and Altherr followed with a base hit. Herrera struck out in an ugly at-bat against Colón, but Maikel Franco's soft groundout to third scored Hernández to bring the lead up to two runs.

Herrera's catch in deep center was the highlight of Joaquin Benoit's 1-2-3 eighth, as nothing was doing for the Braves in the frame.

Héctor Neris' second straight save attempt got off to a poor start, as Adonis García hooked a home run just inside the foul pole in left. Immediately afterward, crew chief Brian Gorman signaled to put the tarp on the field, sending Friday night's contest into a rain delay. Play resumed 24 minutes later. Nick Markakis and Brandon Phillips each hit singles with two out, but that was the extent of the post-deluge damage as Neris struck out Flowers after a full count. Neris got the save and the Phillies got the win.

Right-hander Jerad Eickhoff starts the second game of the series, opposing lefty Jaime García. Saturday's game will begin at 7:05 on CSN.

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Starting Pitchers