ATLANTA (AP) — Brandon Marsh’s tie-breaking pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the eighth inning lifted the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.
The win pushed the Phillies’ lead in the National League East to seven games over the Braves, with five games remaining between the two teams in the regular season.
Weston Wilson went 2 for 3 and scored the winning run in the eighth after leading off with a double. Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner each had an RBI for the Phillies.
Phillies starter Aaron Nola pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on eight hits and two walks. He struck out five.
Matt Strahm (5-2) pitched a scoreless seventh to pick up the win.
Carlos Estévez earned his 22nd save, stranding runners on second and third to end the game.
Atlanta’s Max Fried had his best outing in four starts since his stint on the injured list coming out of the All-Star break. He gave up two runs on four hits in seven innings, striking out four. Joe Jiménez (1-5) took the loss.
Orlando Arcia was 1 for 3 with his 12th home run, and Jarred Kelenic was 2 for 4 with a run scored for Atlanta.
Arcia’s home run in the fourth inning opened the scoring. With Kelenic on first after a leadoff single, Arcia lifted a ball that barely cleared the left field wall and gave the Braves a 2-0 lead. He appeared to stare at Bryce Harper while rounding first, something Harper did to Arcia while rounding second after hitting a home run during Game 3 of the National League Division Series in 2023.
The Phillies tied the score with two in the sixth inning after Fried faced the minimum 15 batters in the first five innings. Edmundo Sosa led off with a single, and Johan Rojas followed with a double over the head of Kelenic in left field. Schwarber knocked the first run in with a groundout to short, and Turner plated Rojas with a sacrifice fly.
The injury-riddled Braves have started the last two games with three players who have been released by teams this season — Gio Urshela (Tigers), Ramón Laureano (A’s) and Whit Merrifield (Phillies). Each had at least one hit against the Phillies on Wednesday.
UP NEXT
The Braves will start rookie RHP Spencer Schwellenbach (4-6, 4.04) against Phillies LHP Cristopher Sánchez (9-8, 3.46) in the series finale Thursday.
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