Acuña, Riley power Braves past Phillies 5-4 as Atlanta moves 5 games up over Philly in NL East

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a tying three-run homer, Austin Riley added a go-ahead RBI triple and the Braves used a late rally to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-4 Sunday, extending their lead in the NL East to five games.

Acuña hit a 100.5-mph fastball off Phillies reliever Alex McFarlane deep into the right field seats in the top of the eighth inning to tie the score 4. It was home run No. 16 this season for Acuña, and it was the seventh consecutive fastball over 100 mph thrown to him by McFarlane.

Acuña’s homer was his 1,000th career hit, and he joined Hank Aaron as the only Braves player to have 1,000 hits, 200 homers and 200 stolen bases.

After getting the first out of the inning, Mike Yastrzemski singled and Drake Baldwin doubled ahead of Acuña’s homer.

McFarlane hadn’t allowed a run since Aug. 11 — the only run he allowed since being called up in July.

In the ninth inning, Ozzie Albies legged out a double off Phillies closer Jhoan Duran (2-5) and Riley followed with a triple off the centerfield fence, giving the Braves the lead.

Dylan Lee (6-0) earned the win in relief of Tyler Mahle, and Raisel Iglesias picked up his 31st save. Mahle allowed two unearned runs in six innings.

Philadelphia wasted a strong effort from starter Aaron Nola, who allowed one run on four hits in seven innings. Nola has gone eight consecutive starts allowing three runs or fewer, his longest such stretch of starts since 2019.

In the seventh inning, Kyle Schwarber hit his MLB-leading 42nd home run and pinch-hitter Derek Hill added a solo shot, his 10th of the season, for the Phillies.

Up next

Braves RHP Grant Holmes (9-5, 3.62 ERA) will face Phillies LHP Jesus Luzardo (13-5, 3.02) in the finale of the four-game set on Monday afternoon.

___

See AP’s full MLB coverage here