Braves Postgame Notes

Braves vs. Phillies: The Braves have won consecutive games against the Phillies to take the three-game series…Atlanta is 15-6 (.714) against Philadelphia at Truist Park since the start of the 2018 season…The Braves lead the season series, four games to two, and need just one win in the final four meetings to avoid losing the season series…The Phillies took the season set from the Braves last year, 10-9, for just the second time since 2012.

Bullpens: Atlanta tallied four runs against Philadelphia’s bullpen tonight…Opposing relievers have a 5.98 ERA (64 ER/96.1 IP) and the Braves have scored 82 of their 141 total runs this season against the opposition’s relievers…Atlanta has scored 26 runs in 16.1 innings against Philadelphia relievers in six matchups this season…The Phillies collective 8.29 ERA (66 ER/71.2 IP) in relief is highest in baseball.

Offense: Scored five runs in tonight’s 6-5 loss against Atlanta…Philadelphia has scored at least four runs in 15 of their 23 games this season and came into play ranked second in the majors in runs per game…Entering play, their 2.01 strikeout to walk ratio was third best in the majors.

Zack Wheeler: The Smyrna, Ga. native faced the Braves for the 15 time in his career, all starts, and held the Braves to two runs, five hits and a home run with eight strikeouts and zero walks…Has walked two or fewer hitters in 10 consecutive starts…Allowed five runs in each of his last three starts against the Braves…Prior to tonight’s start, he owned a career 4.04 ERA (38 ER/84.2 IP) in 14 starts against the Braves.

Bryce Harper: Drove the first pitch he saw on the day over the wall in right-center field in the top of the first for a two-run home run…Harper’s homer traveled a projected 470 feet, the second longest homer to be hit in Truist Park since it’s opening in 2017, behind only Ginacarlo Stanton’s 477-foot home run on August 4, 2017…Harper has reached base safely in all 22 games he has appeared in this season, and dating to last season he has a 25-game on-base streak, the longest active such streak in the National League in second longest in baseball (Bregman, 40 games).

Harper vs. Braves: Entered play with 33 career home runs against Atlanta, his most against any opponent…He’s also scored 101 runs, stolen 16 bases and drawn 93 walks over his career facing the Braves, also his most against any opponent…This season he’s hitting .400 (6-for-15) with six RBI, five runs scored, two home runs, three walks and a double against Atlanta.

Never Quit With Snit: Adam Duvall singled on a 2-1 pitch from Brandon Workman in the ninth inning to plate Dansby Swanson and give Atlanta its third walk-off win of the season…The game-ending RBI was the third of Duvall’s career and his first since May 9, 2018 with Cincinnati…Tonight’s win was Atlanta’s 83rd in its final at-bat since Brian Snitker took over as manager on May 17, 2016, most in the majors in that span…The Braves scored six times in the final three innings to erase a four-run deficit.

Austin Riley: Drove a 1-2 pitch over the wall in left-center field for a two-run homer, his fourth of the season…Recorded his second multi-hit game of the season and he’s hitting .364 (4-for-11) with four RBI and two walks over his last three games…All four of Riley’s home runs this season have come against offspeed or breaking pitches, after hitting just six of his 18 homers last season on such pitches.

Freddie Freeman: Scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to give him 819 for his career…That total passes Hank Aaron for fourth most since the club moved to Atlanta in 1966...Only Chipper Jones, Dale Murphy and Andruw Jones have scored more.

Mark Melancon: Allowed a run in the top of the ninth inning to blow his first save of the season and his first chance since Atlanta acquired him at the trade deadline last season…Melancon had been 15-for-15 in save chances since that date, the most saves in the majors without a blown opportunity…He has 198 saves for his career, and needs two more saves to become the 50 player since the save became an official stat in 1969 to collect 200.

Series Win: The Braves have won the first two games of this series to take the three-game set…The Braves are now 11-1-2 over their last 14 series here at Truist Park…The lone series loss was to Philadelphia, when the Phillies took two-of-three games from September 17-19, 2019…Atlanta improved to 6-2-2 in series play this season, including 4-0-1 at home.

First-Inning Runs: Bryce Harper drove the first pitch he saw over the right center field wall for a two-run home run, after Philadelphia also plated a run in the first last night…This was the first time this season the Braves have allowed runs in the first inning in consecutive games…Entering this series with Philadelphia, Atlanta had only allowed runs in the first inning in two games, the lowest total in the majors among teams with as many games played as the Braves…Three of those four games have been against Philadelphia, and those first-innings run account for 22% (six of 27) of the Phillies offense this year against the Braves…Prior to this series, Atlanta’s 1.80 ERA in the first inning was tied for the lowest in the majors along with Kansas City and Houston (min. 25 games).

Robbie Erlin: Allowed two runs, two hits, two walks and a home run with three strikeouts in his third appearance with the Braves, including his second against the Phillies… This was his seventh career appearance against the Phillies, including his fourth start, he owns a 3.21 career ERA (10 ER/28.0 IP) against Philadelphia…In his last two starts for Atlanta has combined to allow two runs in 8.0 innings.