The Braves finally staged a rally but couldn’t earn their first series victory in nearly a month.
The Braves came back to force extra innings against the Phillies on Thursday but faded to a 7-4 loss at Turner Field. The Braves tied the game with four runs in the seventh inning before Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp knocked a three-run double against Ian Krol in the 10th.
The Braves (8-25) lost for the 22nd time in 23 games this season when tied or trailing after six innings. They haven’t won a series since sweeping the Marlins in three games April 15-17.
“Comebacks are great but if you don’t win the game it doesn’t much matter,” Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski said. “Yeah, we fight. We’ve always fought. No one quits and we play the game right and play hard and all of that. But at the end of the day you want to win the games.”
The Phillies (20-15) led 4-0 after four innings with young power pitcher Vince Velasquez holding the Braves to two hits through six innings. The Braves broke through with Gordon Beckham’s bases-loaded double that trimmed the deficit to 4-3 and chased Velasquez. Jeff Francouer followed with a pinch-hit, RBI single against relief pitcher David Hernandez that tied the game.
Phillies outfielder Odubel Herrera led off the 10th inning with a triple against Braves reliever Jason Grilli. Grilli hit Andres Blanco with a pitch before striking out Maikel Franco. Krol came on and struck out Darin Ruf and walked Freddy Galvis before Rupp hit the three-run triple, with two of those runs charged to Grilli.
Beckham reached second base in the ninth when he singled with two outs and advanced on a balk by Phillies pitcher Andrew Bailey. But Chase d’Arnaud popped out to end the inning and, after the Phillies went ahead in the top of the 10th, the Braves went down in order in the bottom of the inning.
Since following their sweep of the Marlins with a victory against the Dodgers, the Braves have lost 16 of 20 games.
“They’ve played hard,” Gonzalez said of his players. “Some of the questions they have to answer, it’s not their burden to carry and they’ve carried it well. It’s been good to see the character of our (team).”
