Red-hot Phillies crush Braves

After trading away three pitchers Thursday including Wood and relievers Jim Johnson and Luis Avilan, the Braves filled out the roster for Thursday night’s game with three relievers called up from Triple-A: Jake Brigham, Ryan Kelly and left-hander Matt Marksberry, who had his contract purchased and was added to the 40-man roster.

But those were the only runs Nola would allow in five somewhat high-stress innings.

Catcher Cameron Rupp and shortstop Freddy Galvis hit three-run homers as the resurgent Philadelphia Phillies battered the Atlanta Braves 12-2 on Saturday night. “That’s three outings in a row that he’s pitched for us that he’s been very good”. The Red Sox had blown two leads when David Ortiz drew a two-out walk in the seventh inning and Napoli turned a one-run deficit into a 6-5 lead.

After driving in the game’s first three runs in his first at-bat, Howard got a five-run fifth inning started with a single.

“I felt rusty”, Perez said with assistant coach Horacio Ramirez serving as an interpreter.

Markakis hit Nola’s second pitch of the game, a fastball, into the Phillies’ bullpen in center field, his first leadoff homer of the season and the third of his career. “He seems to be a defensive hitter, so we’ve been talking to him about that and he’s been doing it lately”. The 26-year-old opened the season with the Phillies but has been sent down (north?) to Lehigh Valley three times.

Why not? Buchanan had plenty of run support – something Hamels often fought an uphill battle against – thanks to a four-RBI night from Ryan Howard and a two-run homer from Dom Brown (see Instant Replay).

“It’s been a grind since I came back and obviously, I’m still grinding up there”, Freeman said.

“It was nice to hit the ball hard to left field”, Freeman said. “Hopefully, I can build off of that”.

The Braves also played some awful defense this game, but I think it was depressing enough without detailing all that.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: “I don’t really know what to say”. – Mackanin, on the freaky rundown where instead of trying to get back to second base, Cesar Hernandez stared A.J. The Atlanta Braves have lost seven of their last eight road games.

Herrera’s long drive to the second deck in right and Domonic Brown’s RBI single scored two runs in the fifth, giving Philadelphia a 7-2 lead. The replay showed Matt Marksberry received Freeman’s feed from the outfield grass and tagged Brown’s left thigh as they were both approaching the first base bag.

The Phillies will be looking for their 12th win in 14 games since the All-Star break and a third straight victory over Atlanta in the 7:05 p.m. start.

Phillies: Rookie Aaron Nola will take the ball for the Phillies.

It was a rough start to the 2015 season for Buchanan (2-5, 6.44 ERA), who went 0-5 with an 8.76 ERA in five April starts with the big-league ballclub.