Uptons power Braves past Phillies
PHILADELPHIA – With the Braves' season having slipped into irrelevance for most other than hardcore fans, the Upton brothers provided one more memorable night Saturday for those still watching in the penultimate game of 2014.
B.J. Upton had a tie-breaking leadoff homer in the third inning and Justin Upton belted a tie-breaking two-run homer in the seventh to life the Braves to a 4-2 win against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Each Upton also recorded an outfield assist by throwing out a runner attempting to score from second base.
The Uptons homered in the same game for a third time this season and sixth time in two seasons as Braves, extending their own major league record in that category. And it was the first time in major league history that two brothers each had a home run and outfield assist in the same game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“They were huge,” said Braves pitcher Aaron Harang (12-12), who got his record back to .500 in a season when the journeyman pitched better than that mark indicated. “Couple of big plays, couple of big at-bats. They were locked in.”
The win was just the third in 15 games for the Braves and assured a season-series win against the Phillies, with a 10-8 advantage heading into Sunday’s finale.
Justin Upton raised his season totals to 29 homers and a career-high 102 RBIs with one game remaining.
“Any time you can play good defense and contribute at the plate it’s a good night,” he said. “It helped us win, so it was nice.”
“That’s a feat right there,” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, who hasn’t had much to celebrate in recent weeks. “That’s something to talk to the kids and grandkids about, and who knows how long it’ll be before someone does it again? It maybe another couple of hundred years. That’s something special.”
In this difficult Braves season, even Craig Kimbrel protecting a two-run lead in the ninth wasn’t simple. After a Marlon Byrd leadoff single, shortstop Andrelton Simmons booted Domonic Brown’s grounder up the middle. A sacrifice bunt put both runners in scoring position before Kimbrel struck out Freddy Galvis and walked Darin Ruf.
With bases loaded, Ben Revere lined out to Simmons on a diving stop to the shortstop’s right to give Kimbrel his 46th save.
Harang allowed eight hits, two runs and two walks in 6 2/3 innings and won for just the second time in seven decisions over his past seven starts. The Braves scored no runs while he was in the game in any of his last five losses, including three games in which Harang pitched seven innings and allowed two runs or fewer.
“Harang pitched his tail off tonight,” B.J. Upton said. “He’s been there all year for us. He went over 200 innings tonight. That definitely goes a long way. Like I said, he’s done that for us all year. We were able to play some good defense tonight and get him some runs.”
Harang finished with a career-best 3.57 ERA in 33 starts and pitched 200 innings (204 1/3) for the first time since 2007.
“There’s been so many times when he’s gone out there and battled for us and we couldn’t quite muster the runs to get him a win,” Justin Upton said. “He’s been great for us all year, had a great year, so it was nice for us to get him that last win.”
Harang, 36, trimmed nearly two full runs off his ERA from 2013, when he was 5-12 with a 5.40 ERA in 26 starts for the Mariners and Mets.
“It’s nice to be able to finish up the year and go a whole year being healthy, and going out there and giving us an opportunity to win,” Harang said. “It’s been really gratifying, to think back to the first day of spring training, I didn’t even have a job with anybody. To go to making 33 starts and 200 innings again, that’s a big accomplishment.”
He signed a minor league contract with the Indians early in spring training, and then signed with the Braves in the last week of camp, after failing to make Cleveland’s opening-day roster and asking to be released.
“He’s been a pleasure to watch pitch every fifth day,” Gonzalez said. “He’s been a tremendous presence in the clubhouse. And for him to go out there and give us that outing was probably the icing on the cake.”
Braves nemesis Ryan Howard put the Phillies ahead 1-0 with a leadoff homer in the second inning, raising his career-best totals against Atlanta to 47 homers and 133 RBIs in 155 games.
An inning later, B.J. Upton answered with a leadoff homer against veteran A.J. Burnett (8-18), the 12th of the season for the center fielder who set the Braves single-season strikeout record Friday.
Justin Upton prevented a run in the fourth inning by throwing out Chase Utley trying to score from second base on Howard’s single to left field, and one inning later B.J. Upton threw out Wil Nieves trying to score from second on Ben Revere’s two-out single.
Which felt better, hitting a homer or throwing a guy out at the plate?
“I would say throwing a guy out,” B.J. Upton said. “I mean, you don’t get that opportunity much. Obviously every time you walk to the plate it’s a possibility (to hit a homer). Defensively you don’t get a chance to throw guys out that much, so probably the throw at the plate.”
All was not perfect Saturday for the brothers: Justin Upton misplayed an Utley fly ball for a double in the sixth inning, and Howard singled to drive him in with the tying run. But Justin would soon make amends – and then some.
After B.J. Upton’s third-inning homer, Burnett recorded 12 outs in 12 batters, including a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to end the fourth inning. Freddie Freeman singled to start the inning and was thrown out at second base after Jason Heyward struck out.
Freeman’s hit was the only one for the Braves between home runs by the Uptons. After Freeman walked to start the seventh inning, Justin Upton homered to the left-center bleachers to give the Braves a 4-2 lead.
That left him two homers shy of his career-high 31 with Arizona in 2011. He has 56 homers and 172 RBIs in two seasons since being traded to the Braves.
