Philadelphia — One rough defensive inning sunk the Braves on Sunday night, and their hopes of gaining another game in the playoff chase before leaving Philadelphia.
The Phillies broke a tie with two runs in the seventh inning and held on for a 3-2 win at Citizens Bank Park, clinching a second series win against the Braves in barely two weeks.
“One thing about playing the Phillies is, you can’t make mistakes,” said third baseman Chipper Jones, whose throwing error on a bunt led to an unearned run in the seventh. “We made a couple of mistakes, and it ended up burning us.”
The loss dropped the Braves back into a third-place tie with the Marlins in the wild-card race, 3-1/2 games behind co-leader Colorado and San Francisco. They open a four-game series against the Marlins tonight in Florida.
The Braves and Marlins are also tied for second place in the National League East, albeit a full eight games behind Philadelphia.
“You’re rolling along, and something crazy like that happens and costs you the game,” Braves starter Jair Jurrjens (10-9) said of the seventh inning. “If we win, we get close to the wild card [lead]. It sucks. But there’s a lot of games to go. We’ve just got to keep playing hard and trying to win series.”
Jurrjens walked Raul Ibanez to start the seventh, before Jones fielded a surprise drag bunt by Pedro Feliz. Jones bare-handed the ball and threw a little wide to Martin Prado covering first.
Prado looked reluctant to reach further into the path of Feliz barreling toward the base. The throw went past his glove and put runners at second and third.
“I wasn’t playing in [expecting bunt],” Jones said. “It’s just a do-or-die play, and I was making a throw to a guy [Prado] on the run. I thought I made a good throw. I guess I didn’t. I guess it tailed a little too much.
“The play didn’t get made, and it ended up costing us two runs and the game.”
Carlos Ruiz following by hitting a double that popped out of left fielder Garret Anderson’s glove after he raced to the warning track. It would have been a fine catch if he’d held on. He did not, and the Braves trailed 3-1.
“He pitched a great game again in this ballpark,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said of Jurrjens, who gave up three runs (two earned) and seven hits in seven innings. “That inning just got crazy. Ibanez walked ... and we threw the ball away.”
Jurrjens surrendered a Chase Utley homer in the fourth, but had worked out of all other trouble until the seventh, when he walked Ibanez to start the inning.
He had wiggled out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the fifth after walking Ibanez to start that inning.
The Braves had one more prime scoring opportunity in the eighth against reliever Ryan Madson, after Matt Diaz was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Prado, whose first-inning homer had staked the Braves to a 1-0 lead, singled to move Diaz to second, and Jones singled to drive him in and cut the lead to 3-2.
Brian McCann then hit a liner to second baseman Utley to start a double play.
Many in the sellout crowd were still finding their seats when Prado homered with one out in the first, a moon shot that landed in the left-field seats. It was his second homer in seven career at-bats against Joe Blanton.
The Braves had a chance to do more damage in the first after walks by Jones and Anderson, before Yunel Escobar grounded out to end the inning.
They also stranded two in the fourth when rookie Reid Gorecki took a called strike to end the inning.
The Phillies had only one baserunner through three innings against Jurrjens, who was 2-0 with an 0.87 ERA and no homers allowed in three starts at the cozy ballpark before Sunday.
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