Braves beat Phillies 5-2, push NL East lead to 5 games
Atlanta beat Philadelphia 5-2 behind Chris Sale and Mauricio Dubón's go-ahead homer, stretching its NL East lead to 5 games as the two clubs open a four-game series.
Sale, Dubón lead 5-2 win in Philly opener
Chris Sale went 6.0 innings, allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs with 7 strikeouts and just 1 walk, and Mauricio Dubón backed him with a two-run homer in the eighth that made it 5-2 — his 11th of the season and a new career high. Ronald Acuña Jr. went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Atlanta took the opener 5-2 in Philadelphia on September 4.
Phillies5-2"Sale and Fuentes were great as the Braves take the opener of a four-game series in Philly," @mlbbowman wrote, adding that the win had stretched Atlanta's division lead to 5 games.
Lead grows to 5 games with Philadelphia's elimination number at 17
The win pushed Atlanta's lead over Philadelphia from 4 games to 5, per @mlbbowman. The Braves sit at 84-57 atop the NL East, with the Phillies (79-62) 5.0 games back and down to an elimination number of 17. Miami (71-71, 13.5 back, elimination number 8), Washington (67-76, 18.0 back, elimination number 3) and the Mets (64-77, 20.0 back, elimination number 2) are far enough behind that none of them figure into the race anymore.
Atlanta is 3-2 in its last 5 games, and the schedule does not ease up: per @mlbbowman, the next 10 games are 4 in Philadelphia, 3 against Tampa Bay and 3 more against the Phillies, before a trip to Wrigley Field. A club that just widened its division lead is about to spend most of the next two weeks trying to defend it against the very team chasing it.
Upcoming
Martín Pérez (8-8, 3.05 ERA) starts for Atlanta tonight against Zack Wheeler (11-5, 3.31 ERA). Pérez allowed 1 earned run over 5.2 innings with 6 strikeouts in his last start, against Colorado on August 29. Wheeler beat the Angels on August 30, giving up 1 run over 6.0 innings with 6 strikeouts. The Braves are in Philadelphia tonight for game 2 of the series.
The market favors Philadelphia, and the total reads as middling — not a shootout, not a pitchers' duel. With Wheeler pitching at home off a strong outing and Pérez working back from a no-decision, that reads as a coin flip on the mound; for the total to clear, Atlanta's lineup would need to keep producing the way it did behind Dubón and Acuña in the opener.