Braves 10, Phillies 3 (1st)
Justin Upton and Tommy La Stella each drove in three runs while Ervin Santana ended a four-start winless streak as visiting Atlanta won the opener of a day-night doubleheader.
Freddie Freeman scored four times, Upton’s two-run double in the sixth inning snapped a 2-2 tie and La Stella, hitless in his previous 21 at-bats, blew it open with a three-run triple in the eighth for the Braves, who have won the first two games of the four-game series. Santana (6-5) gave up two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings, and Chris Johnson added two hits and two RBIs.
Tony Gwynn Jr. and Ben Revere collected two hits apiece for the Phillies, who led 2-0 after two innings and trailed 4-2 at the end of the sixth before surrendering five runs in the eighth. Roberto Hernandez (3-7) allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits in seven innings, but Antonio Bastardo gave up five runs on three hits in a third of an inning.
Ryan Howard’s single followed Gwynn’s triple in the first and Hernandez’s second-inning single plated Koyie Hill to stake Philadelphia to a 2-0 lead. The Braves took advantage of two Howard errors in the fourth, with Upton driving in Andrelton Simmons and Jason Heyward bringing home Freeman to tie it up.
Simmons reached on a fielder’s choice in the sixth and, after Freeman drew one of his three walks, Upton laced a 3-1 Hernandez pitch off the wall in left-center, scoring two runs to put the Braves ahead. Bastardo gave up two walks and a single with one out in the eighth before Johnson singled home Freeman and La Stella’s bases-loaded triple broke open the contest.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Philadelphia’s bullpen had not allowed a run in its past 11 1/3 innings before Bastardo’s five-run eighth. … Hernandez’s RBI was the first of his major-league career. … Atlanta C Evan Gattis (back muscle spasm) did not play; the Braves are hopeful he will be available for the nightcap.