The Atlanta Braves took game one of four against the Philadelphia Phillies last night by a final score of 8-5 after a rough outing from starting pitcher Aaron Nola. 

Nola struggled to keep balls down in the zone from the the jump. He allowed a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to Austin Riley on a hanging cutter that looked like a beach ball over the center of the plate.

Luckily for the Phillies, Alec Bohm evened the score in the top of the second inning with a two-run blast of his own to straight away centerfield. 

The Phillies managed to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the second on a Bryson Stott double to center field that scored Brandon Marsh. 

Unfortunately, that didn’t last long, as Nola then allowed a solo home run to Marcell Ozuna that tied the game 3-3. Michael Harris II gave the Braves the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on a sac fly to score Ozuna. 

In the top of the third inning with the bases loaded, Alec Bohm was at the plate and hit a bouncer to third base, which Austin Riley scooped to get the force out at third base and then threw home to get Castellanos out at home. 

Note: I’m not sure sliding would have helped but at this point, I think everyone wanted Castellanos to bulldoze Sean Murphy and give the Phillies some sense of toughness for once but maybe that’s just me? Whatever. 

In the top of the fifth inning, the nerd who plays the organ at Truist Park played The Who “Who Are You” as Bryce Harper stepped up to the plate.

Braves fans let booed Harper as he stepped into the batters box and Bryce responded by destroying a first-pitch slider deep to right field for a game-tying solo home run. 

Bryce Harper Home Run Ties Game 4-4

The Braves, as they managed to do throughout the first six innings of last night’s game, responded quickly as Austin Riley hit his second home run of the night off Aaron Nola to even the game 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning. 

The Fightins kept on coming in the seventh with Kyle Schwarber hitting a double to right field that scored Bryce Harper. Nick Castellanos also attempted to score on the hit but after an umpire review, was ruled out at home plate. 

The Braves would take a 7-5 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning on a single from Travis d’Arnaud that scored both Ozzie Albies and Marcell Ozuna. Matt Olson added another run on a sac fly that scored Orlando Arcia to push the game to 8-5 Atlanta. 

That was all she wrote for the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Listen, if you score five runs in a ballgame, then obviously the pitching needs to be better. Aaron Nola labored through six innings of work, allowing eight hits, five earned runs with two walks and seven strikeouts. 

Seranthony Domingues threw a solid inning in relief allowing zero hits and striking out two before Gregory Soto let things slip away in the eighth inning allowing four hits and three earned runs to bury the Phillies on the night. 

Soto, who has been relatively solid in his debut season with the Phillies, continues to have a few blowup appearances that have been costly for the Phillies. 

Soto has allowed a hit in only six of 25 appearances this season. But in those six games, he has an eye-popping 29.08 ERA, allowing 17 hits, 15 runs (14 earned) and six walks while striking out seven in just 4 1/3 innings. In Soto’s other 19 appearances, he has allowed no hits, one unearned run and six walks with 20 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings. via MLB.com 

The Road Ahead for the Phillies

The Phillies are now 23-27 on the season. They sit in fourth place in the NL East standings and are a miserable eight games behind the first place Atlanta Braves. 

They will play the next nine games on the road, all against NL East teams.