If the Braves could play the Philadelphia Phillies more often, Atlanta’s season might not have crumbled so completely.
Rookie starter Williams Perez and Braves relievers turned away multiple Phillies scoring opportunities Friday night in a 2-1 series-opening win at Turner Field that kept Philadelphia in last place in the National League East, two games behind the Braves.
The Phillies put two on with none out in the ninth inning against rookie closer Arodys Vizcaino, on a walk and an error by third baseman Hector Olivera. Vizcaino then struck out Freddy Galvis, Aaron Altherr and Odubel Herrera in order, but Herrera reached base on a strike-three wild pitch that bounced off catcher Christian Bethancourt and into the stands.
With the bases loaded, Darin Ruf lined out to second base to end the game as Vizcaino notched his fifth save.
“That’s another growing moment (for Vizcaino),” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He walks the first guy, Frenchy (Jeff Francoeur). And then we don’t turn a possible double play, don’t even get an out. And then on the possible game-ending strikeout the ball goes into the stands.
“He’s got to get five outs to get a save, and he kept his composure the whole time.”
What Gonzalez hopes will prove to be a growing moment of another kind after the first inning, when he pulled Adonis Garcia from the game for disciplinary reasons. Garcia hit a two-out RBI double in the first inning and was caught not paying attention and tagged out before he could get his foot back to the base.
“We’re 150 games below .500 and there are some times where you can live with physical mistakes and you can live with some mental mistakes,” Gonzalez said, “but sometimes there’s mistakes that, we don’t want to play those games here at the big-league level. The young man will learn from that. He’ll be back in there whenever he gets back in there.
“It just didn’t sit well with me, and I don’t think it sits well with our fans, especially with the season that’s going on right now.”
It was only the fifth win in 31 games for the Braves, three of those wins against the Phillies. With another Saturday or Sunday, the Braves would snap a string of five consecutive home-series losses. They’ve won only one of their past nine series, that when they took two of three games recently at Philadelphia.
The Phillies went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 12 runners, while the Braves were 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left three runners on base.
“The Phillies and the Bravos are not going to put up a lot of runs,” said Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who doubled and scored in the fourth inning for a 2-1 lead. “It’s all going to come down to the bullpen. Our bullpen stepped up tonight and got us the win.”
The Braves have scored two runs or fewer in 16 of their past 31 games, but it was enough Friday as they won their 17th consecutive home game that’s been decided by one run. That streak, which dates to May 1, is tied for the second-longest streak of its kind in the majors over the past 30 years, and it’s the longest within a single season.
The irony, of course, is that the Braves had won only one of their past 15 home games before Friday, and snapped a 12-game home losing streak Tuesday that was the franchise’s longest in more than a century.
The Braves (58-90) gained a 9-8 edge in the season series with the Phillies (56-92) that finishes Sunday.
“I mean, we’re to the point now where I don’t want to lose 100 games,” Freeman said. “We don’t want to lose 100 games. They don’t want to lose 100 games. It’s kind of like a battle right now. We’ve got two more games (against them). I don’t want to come in last.”
The Braves need to win at least five of their remaining 14 games to avoid what would be the franchise’s first 100-loss season since 1988.
Freeman advanced to third on Michael Bourn’s fly out to center and scored on Cameron Maybin’s two-out single up the middle. Maybin came in batting .353 with runners in scoring position, seventh-best in the National League.
Two innings later, rookie Andrew McKirahan struck out Jeff Francoeur with the bases loaded to protect the lead. Relievers McKirahan and Peter Moylan turned away another Phillies scoring threat in the seventh when McKirahan, with runners on the corners and one out, coaxed a grounder from Herrera, with McKirahan fielding the ball and shoveling it with his glove to Bethancourt, who made the tag despite being shaken up on the play.
With two runners still on base, Moylan retired Ruf on a comebacker to the mound for the third out of the inning.
Perez has moved back toward the impressive form he displayed prior to a five-week stint on the disabled list. After going 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA in his past 10 games before getting struck in the foot by a line drive, the rookie went 0-6 with a 9.50 ERA in his first seven starts back from the DL, allowing an alarming 52 hits and 20 walks in 36 innings.
But in his past three starts, Perez is 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA, allowing 20 hits but only four walks in 18 2/3 innings. He’s been able to work out of tight spots again in the past few starts, something he had a knack for prior to his injury but not in his first seven starts back from the DL, when his control was lacking.
“I feel like I’m back where I was before the injury occurred,” Perez said through translator Alex Cotto. “Everything’s starting to feel better. My body feels better and my mechanics — I feel like everything’s on the same page.”
The Braves staked him to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Nick Markakis led off with a single and scored on Garcia’s two-out double off the center-field fence.
After Herrera singled with two out in the first inning, Perez struck out Ruf on a 13-pitch at-bat that included eight consecutive foul balls before a foul-tipped strike three.
Cameron Rupp hit a tying two-out homer in the second inning, and the Phillies had a chance to take the lead in the fourth after Herrera’s leadoff single. Perez struck out Ruf for the first out, gave up another single to Andres Blanco, then got Cody Asche on a fly out and struck out Rupp to end the inning with two runners on base.
After the Braves moved back ahead in the fourth, the Phillies got another leadoff single in the fifth from Brian Bogusevic. Following a sacrifice bunt, Perez induced a couple of 4-3 groundouts to end the inning, again with no damage done.
Until the ninth inning, the biggest escape of the night came in the sixth, when Perez turned over a jam to the bullpen. After a one-out single from Ruf and a two-out walk issued to Asche, Perez was replaced by Brandon Cunniff, who walked Rupp to load the bases. Left-hander McKirahan entered, so Phillies sent up pinch-hitter Francoeur, the 31-year-old former Brave who’s had something of a resurgent season with 12 homers and 43 RBIs in just under 300 at-bats.
McKirahan struck him out to leave the bases loaded.
