Wheeler fires away as Phillies defeat Braves

ATLANTA — Pitching close to home, Peach State native Zack Wheeler was comfortable on the mound Saturday afternoon at Truist Park.

Wheeler struck out 12 batters while throwing eight scoreless innings as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 2-1, setting up the chance for the visitors to take three of four games in the series between National League East Division rivals with a win Sunday night.

Wheeler (4-4) allowed three hits, walked one batter and hit another in his first win since April 29. The 32-yearold right-hander, who grew up in Atlanta and starred at East Paulding High School before getting drafted, was 0-3 with a 4.44 ERA in four previous starts this month.

Wheeler said Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson asked him how he was feeling after the seventh inning Saturday.

“(Thomson) told me if I got the first two guys in the eighth, I would get a chance to get through it,” said Wheeler, who then struck out the first two batters before retiring Matt Olson on a bouncer to first. “I worked really hard this past bullpen (session) working up and hitting my spots.”

Wheeler felt it was his best outing of the season.

“That was a very wellpitched game against us,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I felt like he probably could’ve thrown out there all day long.”

Philadelphia scored two runs in the fifth against Atlanta starter Charlie Morton (5-5). Bryson Stott drove in Brandon Marsh with a sacrifice fly, and Trea Turner added a runscoring double.

“When we got those two runs, we knew that was big,” Turner said. “Charlie is really good, and we knew it would be tough.”

Morton struck out nine batters in 5 1/3 innings while allowing seven hits and four walks.

Sean Murphy homered against Craig Kimbrel with one out in the ninth, but then the Philadelphia closer struck out Marcell Ozuna and Eddie Rosario. It was Kimbrel’s seventh save of the season and No. 401 for his career; he hit the milestone Friday night against his former team, becoming the eighth player in MLB history with 400 saves.

Murphy had two of the four hits by Atlanta, which went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

Turner, who has struggled in his first season in Philadelphia, had two hits and stole a base, while Kody Clemens had two hits and scored a run. The Phillies went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.

In the third inning, Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm made a diving stop of an Ozuna grounder with a runner on second, then threw Ozuna out from his knees. Wheeler got Rosario to pop out to end the inning.

“That was a huge play,” Thomson said. “He had the presence to stay down and throw because he knew he had the time. That was a big play for us.”

Both teams plan to start right-handers in Sunday’s series finale as Atlanta’s Spencer Strider (4-2, 2.97 ERA) and Philadelphia’s Dylan Covey (0-0, 3.00 ERA) take the mound.