A suddenly red-hot Odubel Herrera recorded three hits and Tommy Joseph drilled a towering first-inning home run against Bartolo Colon, whose latest ugly outing enabled the Phillies to open a four-game series with Monday night’s 11-4 win over the Braves at SunTrust Park.
Herrera highlighted his third consecutive multi-hit game with a two-run homer during a five-run fourth inning, which chased Colon and enabled the Phillies to cruise toward their third consecutive win. Joseph gave starting pitcher Nick Pivetta an early cushion when he capped a three-run first inning with a two-run homer that traveled a projected 386 feet with a launch angle of 40 degrees — the highest homer hit by a Phillie this year, per Statcast™.
Colon, whose recent struggles have Atlanta considering removing him from its rotation, allowed eight earned runs and seven hits over 3 2/3 innings. The 44-year-old hurler’s ERA ballooned to 7.78 as he created a significant early deficit for the Braves, who received a double and two-run triple from recently-promoted infielder Johan Camargo as well as RBI singles from Nick Markakis and Brandon Phillips.
