PHILADELPHIA — The Braves on Sunday flew up to Philadelphia with a six-game win streak. They soon met the Phillies, who also carried six wins in a row into the series.
The Braves are headed to Cincinnati as winners of eight in a row.
The Phillies have lost two in a row.
The Braves stayed hot with a 5-1 win over the Phillies in 10 innings Thursday at Citizens Bank Park. For the Braves, this win streak matches their longest of the season.
Five observations:
1. Bryce Elder has proved this much: He is no fluke.
You can buy in now, or wait until later. It might not matter. He keeps doing this.
Through 15 starts, he possesses a 2.40 ERA.
Did he always think he could be this good?
“I think so,” Elder said. “In a sense, you never know what you can do, really. You always believe that you can have success, but you don’t really know until you kind of do it. I just try to kind of be myself. Get ahead early and throw the sinker in there and hope they hit it at somebody. I think I’m kind of seeing that I can get outs up here, so I’m just gonna keep trying to do it.”
The continued results justify the confidence he always had. Elder is a special pitcher. In an age of velocity, he pitches to his strengths and gets ground balls.
On Thursday, he shut out the Phillies over seven innings, which was important because the Braves didn’t score until the 10th inning.
“To me, command is a timeless approach,” said Travis d’Arnaud, who caught Elder on Thursday. “I think that certain things in this game are very trendy and very cyclical, but if you have fastball command, it’ll work forever. I think people forget the hardest pitch to hit is a well-located fastball, and Bryce proves that. And that’s why I think he’s so successful.”
Added center fielder Michael Harris: “Nothing he throws is ever just going to be straight or flat. It always has some movement to it. You have to have a certain swing to barrel it up. Not a lot of guys have success against him, I guess because of that reason.”
2. Elder’s ERA ranks second in the National League and fourth in baseball. At a time when the Braves are without Max Fried and Kyle Wright, he’s emerged as a reliable starting pitcher every fifth day. Five of his 15 starts have been scoreless appearances of at least six innings.
You could make an argument he should be at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park on July 11 – for the All-Star game.
“Absolutely,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He sure does (deserve it). What he’s done, the body of work, he absolutely should get an All-Star nod.”
On Thursday, facing the star-laden Phillies for the first time, Elder struck out six. He allowed only three hits and walked two batters.
3. When Marcell Ozuna launched a two-run homer in the top of the 10th inning, giving the Braves a five-run lead, some fans booed here. The Braves were in complete control.
They did not score at all through nine innings.
Then they erupted.
“It’s still a good feeling because we know our offense is there, and we woke up in the 10th,” Harris said. “Really only took just getting that one run to wake us up, and we did that and came out with a win.”
That one run – the first one – scored when Harris slapped a single through the left side. Soon, two more runs scored when left fielder Kyle Schwarber missed the ball on a sliding catch that could’ve been ruled an error. Then Ozuna put the finishing touches on the inning, and the victory.
4. The bullpen held down the Phillies until the Braves broke through.
A.J. Minter and Raisel Iglesias each threw a scoreless inning to get this game to extras. Nick Anderson allowed a run in the 10th, but finished it.
“For us to come in here against a red-hit Phillies team, and for us to come in here and make a statement like we did and kind of hold them to not very (many) runs, was big for us, especially on the road,” Minter said.
5. This was an impressive series for the Braves.
“This is a rough place to come play because this club is really good,” Snitker said. “We’ve all seen what they can do. When they get hitting on all cylinders, it’s a dangerous team.”
The Braves cooled off the Phillies for two games. Now they are off to face the Reds, who have won 11 in a row.
Stat to know
1 - After a rough start, Minter has allowed one run over his past 11-2/3 innings. Over that span, he’s given up only two hits while striking out 14 batters.
Quotable
“It’s a team. It hasn’t been just one faction of it. It’s been big hits, big plays, pitching, bullpen, starting (pitching). You need it all to come together.” – Snitker on the prevailing theme during this winning streak
Up next
AJ Smith-Shawver on Friday will pitch the series opener in Cincinnati. Right-hander Luke Weaver will start for the Reds. The game begins at 6:40 p.m.
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