Phillies extend winning streak to four games behind outstanding Nola

By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff

Final: Philadelphia Phillies 3, Atlanta Braves 1 ❖ Attendance: 23,489

ATLANTA — Coming into tonight's game, the Philadelphia Phillies (21-35) were looking to continue their winning streak against the Atlanta Braves (24-32). The Phils were able to do just that, winning their fifth straight game versus the Braves this season and fourth straight game overall. Phillies starter Aaron Nola was spectacular this evening, pitching eight innings and allowing one run on five hits and striking out six. He needed an outing like this after his last start, in which he struggled mightily and only pitched three innings. Nola's eight innings tonight were the most thrown by a Phillies starter this season.

Hector Neris was originally brought in to pitch the ninth inning, but after allowing the tying runs to get on base and only recording one out, manager Pete Mackanin opted to bring in Pat Neshek. He has been without a doubt the best pitcher in the Phils' bullpen and recorded his first save of the season. This raises even more questions about the current closer carousel. It's possible that Neshek can be added to that group, which has consisted of Jeanmar Gomez, Joaquin Benoit and Neris this season, as a result of how effective he has been on the mound.

The Phillies' offense did just enough to back Nola. The biggest contributor of the night was Howie Kendrick, who was 3-4 in the game with a homer. The rest of the seven Phillies hits were spread out across the line-up, with almost every starter recording at least one hit. Odubel Herrera continued his streak of both hitting a double and recording a RBI in a game to four straight games, which is the longest such streak for the Phillies since Chase Utley in 2007, according to tonight's broadcasters.

WP: Aaron Nola (3-3, 4.28 ERA) ❖ LP: Jaime Garcia (2-4, 3.21 ERA) ❖ SV: Pat Neshek (1)

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	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3	9	0
ATL	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	0

The Braves got the scoring started in tonight's game. With one out in the bottom of the first, Brandon Phillips doubled into the left field corner. Right fielder Nick Markakis followed with a single to left field to score Phillips from second to give the Braves an early lead. Phillies starter Aaron Nola was able to strike out Matt Kemp and retire Matt Adams on a fly out to end the inning.

The Phillies struck back in the the fourth inning. With two outs, Howie Kendrick homered to center field. It was the Phils' first hit of the game. Tommy Joseph followed with a single to Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson. However, right fielder Aaron Altherr was retired on a force out for the final out of the inning.

The Phils took the lead in the sixth. Cesar Hernandez led off the inning with a double down the left field line. He scored on a double by Odubel Herrera. Kendrick followed with a single to right field to put runners on first and third with no outs for Joseph. During Joseph's at-bat, a balk was called on Braves' starter Jaime Garcia, which allowed Herrera to score and Kendrick to advance to second. Joseph struck out for the first out of the inning. Altherr hit a line drive that was caught by Braves third baseman Adonis Garcia, who then fired to second to double off Kendrick for the final out. The three runs were all that the Phillies needed to beat the Braves behind Nola's dominant pitching.

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Starting Pitchers