PHILADELPHIA – Emilio Bonifacio led off Sunday’s season finale with a homer against Cole Hamels, which gave the Braves one more hit and one more run than they had in the entire game when faced the Phillies pitcher on Sept. 1.
And so, the last game started well for the Braves, who added another run in the second inning and then watched James Russell and four fellow relievers make the lead stand for a 2-1 win at Citizens Bank Park that gave the Braves their only series win of September.
Craig Kimbrel converted his 26th consecutive save opportunity by striking out the last three batters after a leadoff single in the ninth inning, giving him a National League-leading 47 saves for the season. Kimbrel has led the NL in saves or at least tied for the lead in all four of his seasons as a closer.
The Braves put a lid on a disappointing season and a dispiriting September by finally winning consecutive games for the first time since late August. They went 7-18 in September and finished the season in a second-place tied with the Mets in the NL East, two games ahead of the Marlins and 18 behind the division champion Nationals.
Russell, making an emergency start after Alex Wood was scratched Saturday with forearm tightness, pitched four scoreless innings of two-hit ball with one walk and four strikeouts. Not bad for a reliever who was 0-5 with a 9.33 ERA in his only previous five major league starts, all in 2011.
Russell didn’t pitch the minimum five innings required for a starter to get a win, and Luis Avilan (4-1) was awarded the decision by the official scorer. Avilan pitched the fifth and sixth innings and gave up one hit, hit a batter, and struck out two.
Hamels combined with three relievers for a no-hitter against the Braves on Sept. 1 at Turner Field, and the veteran left-hander was 4-0 with a 0.97 ERA and .140 opponents’ average in his past five starts against Atlanta before Sunday.
Hamels was dominant for all but one of his eight innings, but the group effort from Russell and Co. came out on top. The Phillies didn’t score until the eighth inning, when David Carpenter allowed consecutive singles to start the inning and Ben Revere grounded into a double play that brought in a run.
Hamels gave up two runs, three hits and a walk in the first inning before recording his first out. But then he allowed no other Brave to reach base except Joey Terdoslavich, whom he hit with a pitch with two outs in the seventh inning. Avilan hit Chase Utley with a pitch in the sixth, so warnings were issued by the home-plate umpire after Hamels hit Terdoslavich.
For the offensively challenged Braves, there was no scoring threat after the first four batters of the game. But that early two-run burst proved to be just enough.
After Bonifacio led off with a homer for the second time in his career and first time since 2011, Phil Gosselin walked, stole second base and scored on Freddie Freeman’s single. The Braves had a 2-0 before Hamels recorded an out.
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