Braves 9,
Phillies 6
Late Monday
How the game was won
After blowing a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning, the Braves rallied in the ninth and got a grand slam from Dan Uggla, his second home run of the game, to pull out a wild victory at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Uggla cleared the bases with a homer over the left-center fence on an 0-1 slider with one out.
Braves highlights
Right-hander Ervin Santana was again spectacular. He matched a career high with 11 strikeouts in six innings while allowing four hits, two walks and one run in his second start for the Braves. The run came on a home run by Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. Catcher Evan Gattis also hit two home runs and Andrelton Simmons had a home run and a triple.
Braves lowlights
Reliever Luis Avilan melted down in a five-run eighth inning that gave the Phillies a 6-5 lead. … Relief ace Craig Kimbrel was unavailable with a sore shoulder. Kimbrel and Gonzalez both characterized the soreness as typical sort of discomfort that any pitcher goes through during the course of a season, and Kimbrel said he should be ready to pitch after a few days’ rest.
Quoting them
“We have a lot of guys who can change the game with one swing. It’s just a matter of if we do it or not. Tonight we were able to put some at-bats together. We didn’t have much going on early, but we ended up getting to them and were able to come out of there with a win.” — Dan Uggla
“He threw a fastball first pitch and I was kind of, like, oh, man, this is going to be tough. But then he threw a slider, and luckily I just got enough of it.” — Uggla
“We’ve got to figure out a way to bounce back, and make sure this doesn’t snowball into something bad.” — Phillies outfielder Marlon Byrd (Sprayberry High) to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Notable
Gattis’ two-run homer in the sixth and leadoff homer in the eighth gave him four homers in his past two games at Citizens Bank Park, where the catcher nicknamed El Oso Blanco has become something of a Broad Street Bully against the Phillies. Before Monday, his only other two-homer game was against Cole Hamels on Sept. 8 at Philadelphia. All of Gattis’ four career hits at Citizens Bank Park have been home runs, in 20 at-bats and five games. Simmons has home runs in consecutive games for the Braves, who have hit 14 homers in their past six games.
Phillies highlights
Major league batting leader Chase Utley extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a one-out double in the sixth inning. Dominic Brown (Redan High) hit his first home run of the season in his 52nd plate appearance.
Phillies lowlight
The bullpen’s inability to close the deal in the ninth inning.
