Albies is injured as Braves win 4-3
ATLANTA — Ronald Acuña Jr. homered and drove in four runs off Aaron Nola and flashed some fancy defense in right field, lifting the Atlanta Braves to a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday night.
The victory was dampened because of a broken right pinky finger sustained by second baseman Ozzie Albies, who appeared to be injured sliding head-first safely into second base in the fourth inning. Albies, a two-time All-Star, could be out several weeks. He just returned from an 81-game absence Friday because of a broken left foot.
Acuña went deep for the second straight game, making it 2-0 in the third and tagging Nola for a two-run double in the fourth. He ran forward and stretched out to strand the bases loaded by robbing Bryce Harper of extra bases in the fifth with Atlanta leading 4-0.
Atlanta improved to 67-28 since June 1, best in the majors over that span. The reigning World Series champions remained one game behind the first-place New York Mets in the National League East Division standings. The Braves have won seven straight at home.
The Phillies are 59-34 since June 1, the fifth-best winning percentage over that same span, but they lost third their straight after winning five in a row.
Nola (9-12) retired five of the first six batters he faced, the only blemish a one-out double by Travis d’Arnaud in the second, but he walked Albies to begin the third and paid for it when Acuña hit an opposite-field shot 427 feet to right-center. Nola escaped further damage when he got Harris to fly out to strand the bases loaded.
He ran into more trouble in the fourth. William Contreras and Albies began with singles and advanced on a flyout before Acuña made it 4-0 with a double down the left-field line. Albies stayed in the game to run the bases but left in the top of the fifth when Vaughn Grissom took over at second.
Nola, making his 200th career start, set down his last 11 hitters — striking out the last three. He gave up four runs and seven hits with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
The Phillies scored to make it 4-1 in the fifth against Atlanta starter Jake Odorizzi when Bryson Stott walked, advanced to third on a single and crossed the plate on Matt Vierling’s sacrifice fly, sliding head-first across the plate to narrowly beat Acuña’s throw. Dylan Lee (4-1) gave up Kyle Schwarber’s single and walked Alec Bohm to load the bases for Harper, but Acuña ended the threat with his nifty catch.
Philadelphia trimmed the lead to 4-2 in the seventh when Stott singled off Collin McHugh and scored from first on Vierling’s double. The Phillies made it 4-3 in the eighth against Raisel Iglesias on Bryson Stott’s RBI.
Braves closer Kenley Jansen faced the minimum in the ninth for his 34th save in 41 chances.
Odorizzi retired the first 10 batters he faced with five strikeouts. He gave up two hits and one run in 4 2/3 innings.