Phillies beat Braves behind Morgan’s strong start

There was nothing doing for either team through the first three frames at Turner Field. Atlanta right-hander Matt Wisler held the Phillies scoreless through three innings as Morgan did the same for the Braves, who fell to just 1–16 at home in 2016 with Tuesday's loss.

Morgan escaped a jam in the third when, with two outs and runners on first and third, a line drive found his glove to end the inning. That ball wasn't the only projectile headed Morgan's way in the third — the pitcher had managed to duck Jeff Francoeur's broken bat earlier in the inning. 

Maikel Franco's second hit of Tuesday's game led off the fourth inning for the Phillies. On a 3–2 count, Franco took off and Carlos Ruiz grounded a ball through the left side to put runners on the corners. A sac fly into right from Freddy Galvis scored Franco to push across the game's first run.

Atlanta put guys on first and third with no outs in the bottom of the fourth; Tyler Flowers grounded into a double play (nicely picked by Galvis at short) to tie the game but effectively erase the threat.

Just as soon, the Phillies took back the lead. Peter Bourjos doubled off the left-field wall with one out, moved to third on an Odubel Herrera flyout, and scored on a two-out line-drive single from César Hernández. 

Franco gave the Phillies an insurance run in the eighth with a solo shot to left. He had three hits, a welcome sign for the young third baseman whose batting average sat at .239 before Tuesday's tilt. All three hits came against Wisler, who went eight innings and allowed three runs.

Hector Neris pitched a scoreless eighth, but Jeanmar Gomez ran into trouble in the ninth. He allowed a leadoff homer to Freddie Freeman to make it 3–2, and a two-out single to Kelly Johnson.

On Wednesday, Jerad Eickhoff faces off against Jhoulys Chacin of the Braves at 7:10 p.m. It's the second game of three at Turner Field, the Phillies' first series with the 2016 Braves.