Phillies Lose To Braves, 4-1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Chris Johnson drove in a pair of runs and Alex Wood pitched six strong innings to lead the Atlanta Braves to their 10th straight victory, 4-1 over the slumping Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday night.
Wood (2-2) allowed one run on two hits in his fourth major league start. The unorthodox 22-year-old rookie left-hander, who configures his body in an unusual way during his delivery, struck out three and walked two.
Johnson, who entered leading the league in batting, hit a two-run single in the first to stake the Braves to an early lead. Justin Upton and B.J. Upton each had a pair of hits with a double apiece for Atlanta, which matched its season-best winning streak.
Philadelphia managed just four hits while dropping its fifth straight and 13th in the last 14. The Phillies have just 33 runs in their last 14 outings.
The home fans voiced their displeasure several times during the evening, including greeting closer Jonathan Papelbon with boos when he entered in the ninth. Papelbon pitched a scoreless frame. The loudest boos were targeted at Delmon Young after he struck out for the fourth time in the ninth inning.
Cliff Lee (10-5) matched his shortest outing of the season while continuing his recent struggles. The left-hander gave up four runs — three earned — on eight hits in five innings to lose for the third consecutive start. Lee, who last pitched on July 21 and had his last turn in the rotation skipped due to a stiff neck, has a 6.00 ERA during his losing streak.
The Braves, who surged to a 12 ½-game lead over Washington in the NL East, scored a pair of runs in the first inning on Johnson's two-run single. After the Phillies got a run back in the third on Michael Young's groundout, RBI hits by Jason Heyward and Justin Upton in the fourth pushed Atlanta's lead to 4-1. Upton's double extended his hitting streak to nine games.
Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless ninth for his NL-leading 34th save in 37 chances.
There were two reviews of called home runs that were overturned by replay.
Carlos Ruiz's third-inning double originally was ruled a home run by third-base umpire Gary Cederstrom but changed when replays showed the ball didn't clear the metal fence atop the wall in left field.
And B.J. Upton's fourth-inning double was called a homer but overturned after a lengthy delay when the umpires apparently determined that a fan interfered with the ball prior to it going over the wall.
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