Idle Braves pad lead in East; Phillies lose top hitter

Rhys Hoskins leads the Phillies with 27 homers and 71 RBIs.

Credit: Matt Slocum

Credit: Matt Slocum

Rhys Hoskins leads the Phillies with 27 homers and 71 RBIs.

Not playing has been profitable for the Braves.

Their East Division lead is up to 5 1/2 games after the first-place Braves were off Wednesday and Thursday and the second-place Phillies lost twice.

Philadelphia fell to Arizona 8-7 Thursday night and lost 7-4 to Tampa Bay Wednesday.

The Braves, who lost their last two games before their extended off-days, begin a home series with the Giants Friday night.

The third-place Mets, who led the East most of the season, are 7 1/2 games back.

Meanwhile, the Phillies also learned that slugger Rhys Hoskins will miss the rest of the season with an abdominal tear that requires surgery.

Hoskins leads the Phillies with 27 homers and 71 RBIs.

Hoskins had been playing through an abdominal injury all season, but he aggravated it when he dove awkwardly for a ball at Washington on Aug. 5.

He spent two weeks on the injured list, returned to the lineup Sunday and hit two homers in a win at San Diego. He didn't start again until Wednesday's loss to Tampa Bay, during which he made a few plays in the field that further exacerbated the injury.

Hoskins' final at-bat this season was a game-tying homer in the eighth inning against the Rays.

He said Thursday he can't move laterally at first base or run well enough to continue playing.

The Phillies placed Hoskins back on the 10-day injured list. Hoskins said he will likely have surgery within the next week and that the recovery period is 6 to 8 weeks.

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