Altherr makes big return for Phillies

ATLANTA — Aaron Altherr and Maikel Franco homered, Aaron Nola won for the first time in eight starts and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 7-5 on Thursday night.

Altherr returned to the lineup after missing the first 103 games of the season with a broken left wrist. He went 3 -or-4 with two RBIs.

Braves starter Matt Wisler (4-11) gave up three homers and has allowed eight homers in his past four starts, a span of 20 1/3 innings.

Atlanta, with the worst record in the major leagues, dropped to 14-37 at home.

The Phillies took a 5-0 lead in the first on Franco’s 19th homer, a three-run shot, Tommy Joseph’s 14th homer and a run that scored on second baseman Jace Peterson’s fielding error.

Altherr’s two-run shot in the fifth made it 7-0.

The Braves cut the lead to 7-3 in the bottom half of the inning on Freddie Freeman’s RBI double, Adonis Garcia’s RBI single and Anthony Recker’s sacrifice fly.

Philadelphia closer Jeanmar Gomez earned his 27th save in 30 chances, but it was a shaky appearance. The first two batters reached. Erick Aybar grounded into a double play, but Gordon Beckham followed with an RBI single to make it 7-5.

Gomez struck out Peterson to end it with a runner on first.

Nola (6-9) gave up eight hits, three runs, three walks and struck out five in five innings. He began the game 0-5 with a 10.61 ERA in his previous seven starts before snapping a career-high, five-game losing streak.