Phillies pitchers dominate once more, sweep Braves on Bohm hit
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Alec Bohm scored a tiebreak single in the eighth inning, Zach Eflin gave Philadelphia another strong start and the Phillies ended a three-game sweep of the reigning NL east champion Atlanta Braves with a 2-1 win on Sunday .
Philadelphia’s pitching team was the story of the season opening streak when the starting trio of Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Eflin gave up just three runs, 11 hits and one walk in 20 2/3 innings against an Atlanta line-up that led the majors in 2020 with 556 Hits.
The Phillies Bullpen, who scored a 7.06 ERA in 2020, failed to deliver a run in 7 1/3 innings in the set.
Eflin went seven strong innings, allowing only four hits and one walk while striking eight. The only mistake he made was hanging a curveball to Travis d’Arnaud, which ended the winds blowing into Citizens Bank Park on the seventh, ending Atlanta’s 19-inning scoring drought, with a binding solo -Homer pierced.
Philadelphia regained the lead in eighth place when Rhys Hoskins, Bryce Harper and Bohm beat consecutive singles against Chris Martin (0-1). Hoskins hit midfielder Cristian Pache just before the throw.
Atlanta starter Ian Anderson jiggled in trouble early on, hitting seven hitters while allowing four hits. Andrew Knapp homered in the second.
Hector Neris picked up his first save, dodging the problems caused by two-out walks against Freddie Freeman and Marcell Ozuna. D’Arnaud flew out to end it.
CROWD SOURCING
After the Phillies played in front of 8,500 people in the first two Homestands games, the Phillies received permission from the City of Philadelphia to increase the crowd to nearly 11,000 fans on Sunday – about 25 percent of that at Citizens Bank Park.
The club announced a crowd of 10,773 for the final on Sunday, with social distancing pods scattered around every level of the ballpark.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has increased entry restrictions for outdoor sports and concert venues to 50 percent on Sundays and 25 percent indoors. However, the city of Philadelphia has different regulations and has capped visitor numbers to just 20 percent before Sunday.
NEXT
Braves: Atlanta was scheduled to play in a three-game set in Washington starting Monday. The Nationals had to cancel their first three games of the season due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Drew Smyly will make his first start for the Braves after coming from San Francisco as a free agent. The Nationals did not reveal their starting pitcher and were not fully cleared for full squad training on Sunday afternoon.
Phillies: Host the New York Mets in a three-game set starting Monday. Philadelphia will send newly signed left-hander Matt Moore up the hill for the first time. Moore spent the 2020 season in Japan after playing only twice for the Detroit Tigers in 2019. He faces two-time Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom, who will make his New York delayed opener debut after a weekend series in Washington was postponed due to the Nationals’ COVID-19 issues.
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