ATLANTA (AP) — Dansby Swanson and the Atlanta Braves are happy to take a gift when they receive it, particularly a big one.
Swanson scored the tiebreaking run in the fifth inning on an excruciating defensive sequence by the Phillies, and the Braves beat Philadelphia 8-4 on Wednesday night.
“In this game, you’ll take every break you can,” Swanson said. “Obviously, we’re going to keep riding with this momentum that we have and look to put together another good performance tomorrow.”
Swanson singled and came around to score for a 5-4 lead on a play that started with a wild pitch by reliever José Alvarado (0-2) and a high throw from catcher J.T. Realmuto in an attempt to keep Swanson from reaching second.
The miscues got worse from there.
The ball sailed past the outstretched gloves of Jean Segura at second and Bryson Stott at shortstop, then went under the glove of center fielder Odúbel Herrera for a two-base error.
It appeared both Segura and Stott could’ve caught the ball — neither was charged with an error — and kept it from getting away. Herrera charged and overran the ball, then looked even more hapless as he retreated to pick it up near the warning track.
“We gave it away,” Phillies manager Joe Girardi said. “Alvy had a hard time throwing strikes. We had the ball thrown by J.T. missed by a couple of guys and then we didn’t do much after that offensively. It’s unfortunate.
“It looked like (Segura) was trying to be quick with the tag, and they work on that all the time. It looked like Odúbel just peeked up.”
Austin Riley followed with his ninth homer to make it 6-4. Swanson, who went 4 for 5, connected with his sixth homer, an opposite-field shot to right, for a 7-4 lead in the sixth. He also added an RBI single in the four-run second.
Charlie Morton, a 38-year-old…