Atlanta Braves Lose to Phillies But Win Series
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves Lose to Phillies But Win Series 3-2
The Atlanta Braves called up Casey Kelly for a spot start on Sunday but it wasn’t the right spot for Kelly who gave up three runs in his five innings.
It was pretty obvious early on this wasn’t Kelly’s day, every pitch seemed to be up and the Phillies treated them like batting practice lining hits all over the field.
To Kelly’s credit he pitched his way out of trouble twice. In the first inning Odubel Herrera lined a two strike double to center but Cesar Hernandez, Maikel Franco and Tommy Joseph failed to drive him in.
He had no such luck in the second when Cameron Rupp opened with his second homer of the year. After Freddy Galvis grounded out Tyler Goeddel tripled to center. Kelly got the pitcher to ground out without allowing the run to score but Peter Bourjos singled to drive in Goeddel. Herrera walked but Kelly coaxed a ground ball out of Hernandez to end the inning.
The Braves made some noise in the top of the third when Daniel Castro singled to center and Kelly bunted him to second, but Mallex Smith and Ender Inciarte hit easy fly balls to end the inning.
Kelly had a 1-2-3 third inning but the fourth brought more trouble when Galvis tripled to lead off the frame and Kelly hit Goeddel on the brim of his helmet with a curve that didn’t break. After getting the next two batters Kelly also hit Herrera but he managed to wiggle out of trouble again when Hernandez grounded out to Freeman.
In the fifth Franco led off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Kelly. Tommy Joseph popped up to Freeman but Rupp followed with a single that advanced Franco to third. Galvis tried to bunt but Kelly caught the resulting soft liner for the second out and escaped when Goeddel hit a soft grounder back to the mound to end the inning.
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