Sean Murphy marked his return from a rib injury with a bang, hitting a homer and driving in four runs as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7-5 on Tuesday night.
Austin Riley contributed with two doubles, including a clutch go-ahead hit off the wall in right-center in the seventh inning. Riley’s second double brought in Marcell Ozuna, who had walked and advanced to second on a wild pitch from Orion Kerkering (1-1).
Jarred Kelenic had a solid night as well, walking three times and scoring twice.
For the Phillies, Kyle Schwarber homered and drove in three runs.
In a matchup between the top two finishers in last season’s NL Cy Young voting, both Zack Wheeler of the Phillies and Chris Sale of the Braves gave up five runs.
Atlanta’s bullpen came through, with Daysbel Hernández (1-0) pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings, and Raisel Iglesias earning his first save, managing to get around a two-out walk to Bryce Harper in the ninth.
Sale allowed nine hits over 4 2/3 innings, while Wheeler, who had been dominant with 13 consecutive starts of at least six innings and no more than two runs allowed, was tagged for five runs in 5 1/3 innings.
In a defensive highlight, Edmundo Sosa, starting in the outfield for the first time in his career, made a spectacular catch over the wall in left field, robbing Ozuna of a home run in the first inning.
A key moment in the game came in the second inning when Riley reached second after his fly ball dropped in front of Phillies center fielder Johan Rojas, who seemed to misjudge the play, thinking Sosa was going to make the catch.
Next up, Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker (1-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his second start after throwing six scoreless innings in a 3-1 win over Colorado last Thursday. The Braves will counter with right-hander Grant Holmes (0-1, 7.20 ERA).
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