ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. homered to spark an eight-run fourth inning and Tyler Mahle turned in another stellar outing to lead the Atlanta Braves to their second straight victory over the Philadelphia Phillies, 12-2 on Saturday night.
The Braves had to rally three times in 11 innings to win the series opener between the two top NL East teams.
This one was a lot easier.
Acuña hit a towering shot that barely cleared the wall in front of the Phillies bullpen off Brooks Raley (5-7), who took the loss for the second straight night. Acuña tacked on a run-scoring single to close out the big inning.
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Philadelphia was one out from escaping the inning with no further damage. Ozzie Albies walked and Michael Harris II singled before the Phillies, going with a bullpen game after Jesús Luzardo was scratched with a tight shoulder, called in Grant Holman for his first big-league appearance of the season.
Mauricio Dubón had a two-run single, Drake Baldwin brought in two more runs with a double off the wall, and some sloppy play by the Phillies led to five unearned runs in the fourth. Bryson Stott had a throwing error on a routine play that would've ended the inning, and another run scored on a wild pitch.
Mahle (5-10) has pitched brilliantly for the Braves since the journeyman was acquired ahead of the trade deadline. He surrendered only a first-inning homer to Bryce Harper over seven innings, improving to 3-1 with a a 1.25 ERA in seven starts with Atlanta.
He allowed just six hits with three strikeouts and no walks.
Harris added a three-run homer in the eighth off Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs.
Up next
RHP Grant Holmes (9-5, 3.46) will try to give the Braves a sweep on the series when he takes the mound Sunday against Philadelphia RHP Andrew Painter (3-9, 5.71).
