Drake Baldwin’s 11th-inning double lifts Braves past Phillies after three separate rallies

A game that swung early, then tightened

Atlanta struck first when Matt Olson homered to left in the first inning, but the Phillies turned the game in one hard second inning. Derek Hill doubled to center and drove in J.T. Realmuto, Edmundo Sosa and Bryan De La Cruz, flipping a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 Philadelphia lead. For a while, that single swing looked like it might be enough.

It was not because both starting pitchers gave their clubs room to stay in it. Aaron Nola worked 6 1/3 innings for Philadelphia and allowed only two runs, though both came on solo homers from Olson and Austin Riley. Chris Sale was tagged for three runs in the second, then did not allow another run across his seven innings. In a game that eventually became a bullpen test, both starters did the more useful thing: they kept the margin from getting away.

Riley’s homer to left-center in the seventh cut the Phillies’ lead to 3-2 and changed the feel of the night. Atlanta still had work to do, and the Braves were not exactly clinical about it. They finished with 11 hits, three walks and two hit batters, yet still needed extra innings. That is the kind of stat line that says pressure was building long before the tying run finally arrived.

Three answers before the last one

The Braves finally pulled even in the ninth, and even that came in a messy form. Sean Murphy singled to center, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. scored, and Hill was charged with a fielding error as Murphy took second. Philadelphia had been six outs from winning before Riley’s homer; now the lead was gone entirely.

Extra innings became a trade of short-lived advantages. Justin Crawford’s single to center scored Bryson Stott in the 10th to put the Phillies back ahead, 4-3. Atlanta answered immediately when Mauricio Dubón lifted a sacrifice fly to center and Brewer Hicklen scored to make it 4-4. Then the Phillies did it again in the 11th, with Luis Arraez singling to left to bring home Garrett Stubbs for a 5-4 edge.

That still was not the end, because Atlanta had one more response and then one final blow. Ha-Seong Kim singled to left to score Ozzie Albies and tie the game at 5-5. Baldwin followed by doubling to center, bringing Kim home with the winning run. Baldwin finished with two hits, Kim drove in one and scored one, and Dubón and Murphy each supplied a tying run at different moments. This was not one grand comeback; it was a chain of them.

Our take: Atlanta survived its waste, Philadelphia wore its misses

The Braves won because the parts of the game that prevent a loss were better than the parts that create an easy win. Atlanta stranded 20 runners, which usually sends a team home frustrated, but the Braves also played clean defense, committed no errors and turned five double plays. Their pitching staff held Philadelphia to seven hits, no home runs and a .184 team average. When an offense keeps leaving people aboard, that kind of support keeps a game alive long enough for the last inning to matter.

Philadelphia will look at the same box score and see a result it let slip in stages. The Phillies led 3-1, then 4-3, then 5-4. They also left 16 runners on base, and the ninth-inning tying run scored on Hill’s error in center. Hill’s three-run double was still one of the biggest swings of the game, and Arraez and Bryce Harper had two hits apiece, but the late innings were a problem that kept returning. Atlanta scored in the ninth, 10th and 11th; that is not one isolated leak, it is an ending that never got under control.

If there is one reasonable improvement point for each side, it sits in plain view. For Atlanta, the offense does not need a dramatic overhaul after 11 hits and six runs, but it could stand to cash traffic more efficiently after leaving 20 on base. For Philadelphia, the route is just as clear: a little more conversion from the lineup and a cleaner finish on defense would have changed the result. The Phillies had enough moments to win, but the Braves had the last answer every time it counted.

Scoring moments

1. 1st Inning

   Olson homered to left (352 feet).

2. 2nd Inning

   Hill doubled to center, Realmuto scored, Sosa scored and De La Cruz scored.

3. 7th Inning

   Riley homered to left center (434 feet).

4. 9th Inning

   Murphy singled to center, Keirsey Jr. scored on fielding error by center fielder Hill, Murphy to second.

5. 10th Inning

   Crawford singled to center, Stott scored.

6. 10th Inning

   Dubón hit sacrifice fly to center, Hicklen scored.

7. 11th Inning

   Arraez singled to left, Stubbs scored, Harper to second.

8. 11th Inning

   Kim singled to left, Albies scored.

9. 11th Inning

   Baldwin doubled to center, Kim scored.