Saturday revealed just how valuable Odubel Herrera is to the Phillies’ lineup.

The enigmatic outfielder tied the game in the ninth by smacking his 10th homer of the season to right field with the Phillies down to their last two outs. Then in the 11th, he extended the inning with a one-out single that moved the game-winning run into scoring position. Two batters later, with the bases loaded, Ty Kelly laced a single to the gap in left for the first walk-off hit of his career to seal a 4-3 win at Citizens Bank Park.
Kelly has 13 hits this season, five of which have been go-ahead hits, including the walk-off.
“I’ve had some big opportunities off the bench, and it’s always nice when you can capitalize on those situations,” Kelly said.
Herrera’s clutch homer came off Atlanta’s closer Jim Johnson, who was one of three Braves relievers to allow a run. Johnson has now allowed at least one run in four of his last eight appearances, during which he has blown three saves.
“Everybody I would change to gave up a run tonight,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s just not [Johnson]. The other two probably other options gave up runs, too. I’m talking about [Arodys] Vizcaino and [Rex] Brothers. Those would probably be the guys I’d go to. It’s something you think about.”
Much of Philadelphia’s quiet start came at the hand of Braves starter Sean Newcomb, who threw with five innings of two-hit, one-run ball, while walking three.
“I’m seeing a lot of really good things out of him,” Snitker said. “He’s doing fine. He’s growing here. He just faced what, four of the top teams in the game and battled his way through tonight. I thought he competed and did a really good job.”
An error in the first tacked two unearned runs onto Phillies right-hander Jerad Eickhoff’s line, before he escaped five innings with just one earned run allowed. Dating back to the June 17, the game before he was placed on the disabled list with a back injury, Eickhoff has a 2.89 ERA in 28 innings.
“It’s been a test all year,” Eickhoff said. “To be able to put things in line and make some pitches there at the end, that’s the biggest thing. I’m learning from mistakes, and that’s what it’s all about.”
The Phillies’ bullpen backed Eickhoff by throwing six scoreless innings, allowing five hits without walking a batter.
The Phillies had tallied just two hits through seven innings when, to lead off the eighth, Hernandez roped a triple into the right-field corner. Aaron Altherr then worked the count to 2-2 and inside-outed a 99-mph inside fastball from Vizciano into right field to plate Hernandez, cutting the Braves’ lead in half..
In just his 14th Major League game at third base, Braves slugger Freddie Freeman showed off his defensive chops. Two batters after Altherr’s single, Tommy Joseph ripped a one-hopper to Freeman at third. Freeman, usually found patrolling first base, went down to a knee, slid to his right while backhanding the ball and kindling a 5-4-3 double play to end the frame and the scoring threat.
Phillies right-hander Luis Garcia extended his career-long scoreless streak to 21 2/3 innings. It is the longest single-season streak by a Phillies reliever since Larry Andersen’s club record of 32 2/3 in 1984.
Nick Markakis’ three hits on the night — two doubles and a single — inched him ever closer to the career 2,000-hit mark.
Markakis now has 1,995 hits (and 416 two-baggers) across his 12 big league seasons. With five more base knocks, he’ll the ninth active player to reach 2,000, joining an impressive group headlined by Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols, Adrian Beltre, and Ichiro Suzuki. Only seven active players have more doubles.
Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey (6-7, 4.31 ERA) will start for Atlanta in the finale Sunday in Philadelphia at 12:35 p.m. CT. Last time Dickey threw in Philadelphia was as a member of the Blue Jays, when he allowed five earned and nine hits in four innings in August 2015. He has a 5.40 ERA in four starts in Philadelphia, but an overall 2.98 ERA against the Phillies.

The Nashville Sounds used a dominant pitching performance to grab a 2-1 win over the Salt Lake Bees in front of a sellout crowd of 11,024 fans Saturday night at First Tennessee Park.
One night after the Sounds used three pitchers to shut out the Las Vegas 51s, four pitchers held the Bees to one run on four hits in another one-run win. It’s the third time in four games the Sounds have won a one-run game.
Kendall Graveman started on a Major League rehab assignment and went 4 2/3 innings. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits while walking a pair and striking out five. The lone run he allowed was a one-out solo homer to Ramon Flores to give Salt Lake a 1-0 lead in the second.
It remained 1-0 until the fourth when the Sounds got in on the long ball action. With one out, Mark Canha singled to right field to put a runner on base.
Bees’ starter Luis Diaz struck out Jaff Decker for the second out of the inning, but he couldn’t escape the inning. Yairo Munoz followed Decker and drilled a 2-2 pitch from Diaz into the Hyundai Deck for a two-run homer and 2-1 lead.
The lead held up as the bullpen trio of Felix Doubront, Chris Bassitt, and Kyle Finnegan kept the Bees out of the runs and hits column the rest of the way.
Doubront came on for Graveman with two outs in the fifth and struck out Dustin Ackley to end the inning. He went six up and six down in the sixth and seventh innings and earned the win.
Bassitt entered for the eighth and made quick work of Salt Lake. The right-hander retired the top of the order in 1-2-3 fashion. He paved the way for Finnegan who worked around a pair of walks in the ninth.
With runners at first and second and nobody out, Finnegan got Ramon Flores to bounce into a 6-3 double play. With the tying run standing at third base, Sherman Johnson flied out to center field to end the game. It’s the third save for Finnegan since joining Nashville in late June.
The Sounds have won four of the first five games on the homestand and improved to 51-55. Diaz was tagged with the loss for the Bees who fell to 55-52 with the loss.
Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Sunday night at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Ben Bracewell (1-2, 5.40) starts for the Sounds against right-hander Daniel Wright (4-7, 7.26) for the Bees. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.

It began innocuously enough. Aaron Altherr, dropped to seventh in the lineup due to past struggles against Julio Teheran, drew a walk in his first at-bat. He then demolished, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a solo homer deep into the second deck in left to lead off the fifth, sparking a seven-run Phillies outburst that powered a series-opening win over Atlanta.

“That’s the first ball I’ve hit hard off him,” Altherr said about his fifth-inning homer, which landed in the second deck in left field. “My numbers had been pretty bad off him.”
Cameron Rupp (his 10th) and Tommy Joseph (his 16th) added their own homers in the fifth to back up Altherr’s moonshot in the Phillies’ 10-3 win at Citizens Bank Park.
“I was kind of just hoping he’d get Joseph out and we’d cut our losses with four and are still in the ballgame … the wheels kind of fell off there,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That was the one that hurt.”
Stymieing the Phillies’ rally there would certainly have left the Braves in a competitive game. They battled back with a pair of solo homers in the seventh and, in the eight, plated a run and stranded two to make the game 8-3.
The night began as trade rumors swirled. Both Teheran and Philly’s intended starter, Jeremy Hellickson, had their names swirling in trade talks as the final week before Monday’s non-waiver Trade Deadline wraps up. Only one took the mound Friday.
Hellickson was scratched from his start less than a half-hour before first pitch as trade talks picked up. He was dealt with cash to the Orioles after the game for Hyun Soo Kim, lefty pitching prospect Garrett Cleavinger and international amateur signing bonus pool space. In a separate deal, Howie Kendrick was traded with cash to the Nationals for another lefty pitching prospect, McKenzie Mills, and more international signing bonus money.
In Hellickson’s place, recent callup Jake Thompson pitched admirably on short notice, throwing five shutout innings, allowing just five hits, walking two and striking out five.
“They told me at 6:30,” Thompson said. “I really didn’t have time for much. I just grabbed my stuff and went out there and got ready.”
Teheran did nothing to help his trade value, as the Phillies chased him with their big fifth inning, planting eight runs on his final line, raising his ERA to 5.09.
Amidst the three traditional home runs the Phillies launched in the fifth inning fell a different type of round-tripper, more common amongst youngsters still learning the game. Freddy Galvis slapped a ball the other way toward Nick Markakis, who, in an attempt to lay out to rob a hit, missed the ball completely and afforded Galvis a triple. Markakis chased the ball to the warning track and hit cutoff man Brandon Phillips, who proceeded to throw wildly to third, scoring Galvis on the play.
“You have to [rebound] … you still have to get the next hitter,” Snitker said when asked if error-inducing runs are tougher to rebound from than a mistake pitch.
Rupp up and away: One batter after Altherr’s home run got things started in the home half of the fifth, Rupp followed up with a homer, marking the fourth time the Phillies have gone back-to-back this season. With Andrew Knapp earning more playing time lately and prospect Jorge Alfaro slated to begin the 2018 season with the big club, a late push for Rupp could prove important. In his last 14 games, he has a .370/.442/.761 (1.203 OPS) slash line with five of his 10 homers on the year coming in his last eight games.
Sean Newcomb takes the mound Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET to face the Phillies for the first time. Newcomb began his rookie season with four great starts immediately followed by four poor ones, all adding up to a 3.81 ERA and 2-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (44 strikeouts, 22 walks).

Three Nashville Sounds pitchers combined on a six-hit shutout in a 1-0 win over the Las Vegas 51s in front of 9,648 fans Friday night at First Tennessee Park.
Michael Brady started and went four innings, Bobby Wahl threw the fifth and sixth, and Corey Walter worked the final three frames to give the Sounds their eighth shutout of the season and first series win since June 1-4 against Iowa.
In Brady’s first start since June 11th, the right-hander allowed three hits while racking up five strikeouts. He allowed a two-out double to Dominic Smith in the first, but worked around the scoring threat.
Las Vegas right fielder Travis Taijeron singled to start the second but Brady bounced back and retired the next three batters he faced.
Wahl took over in the fifth as part of a Major League rehab assignment. The hard-throwing right-hander worked a quick 1-2-3 inning.
Nashville’s offense came to life in the bottom of the fifth when Jaff Decker lined a triple to the gap in right-center off Las Vegas starter Mitch Atkins. Yairo Munoz followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Sounds a 1-0 lead.
The one run turned out to be enough as the Sounds notched their first shutout since June 7th against Omaha.
Wahl returned for the sixth inning and struck out the side. He turned it over to right-hander Corey Walter who went the final three innings.
He retired the side in order in the seventh, worked around a two-out single in the eighth, and got out of a jam in the ninth.
After he retired the first two batters on groundouts, Kevin Plawecki and Taijeron singled to put a pair of runners on for Josh Rodriguez. Walter bounced back and struck out Rodriguez to end the game and secure the win.
Wahl earned the win, his first of the season, and Walter notched his first save of the year.
Decker was the lone Sounds player to collect two hits. The left fielder went 2-for-3 with the only run scored in the game.
The Sounds welcome the Salt Lake Bees to First Tennessee Park Saturday night for the first of four games. Right-hander Kendall Graveman (0-1, 11.81) starts for Nashville against right-hander Luis Diaz (4-8, 5.67) for Salt Lake. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.