Phillies reverse course, win with small ball in 2-1 victory over Braves

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Aug 29, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — On Thursday night, the Phillies slugged their way to a victory over the Braves. On Friday night, the offense showed a different dimension.

A day after clobbering seven homers to tie a franchise record, the Phillies didn’t have a single extra-base hit. Instead, small ball propelled them to the 2-1 win over Atlanta.

Kyle Schwarber — who was responsible for four of those seven homers on Thursday — scored both runs. But rather than the long ball, both runs were scored with solid baserunning.

In the fourth inning, Schwarber drew a walk, advanced to second on a bunt single from Bryce Harper and scored on a single from Brandon Marsh.

In the eighth, Schwarber singled and advanced from first to third on a Harper single, and then scored the go-ahead run easily on a sacrifice fly from Alec Bohm. It was just enough for the Phillies to secure at least a series split, after closer Jhoan Duran slammed the door shut in the ninth.

Phillies starter Ranger Suárez battled through five innings. Although he allowed 10 hits to tie a season high, strong defense helped him limit the Braves to one run.

The run he surrendered came in the second inning, after a double from Atlanta’s Sean Murphy and single from Nick Allen. Another single from Jurickson Profar scored Murphy, but Suárez escaped the jam without further damage by inducing a double play on the next at-bat.

In the fifth inning, Nick Castellanos gunned down Matt Olson at the plate to save another run. Catcher Rafael Marchán applied the tag to Olson, who was attempting to score from third on a sacrifice fly.

David Robertson pitched a clean sixth inning. Matt Strahm sidestepped a single and a walk to preserve the 1-1 tie in the seventh. Orion Kerkering came in for the eighth, and stranded the go-ahead runner at second with a strikeout.

With a 2-1 lead in the ninth, Castellanos was lifted for Harrison Bader as a defensive replacement. Duran picked up the save with a 1-2-3 inning.