PHILADELPHIA — Mauricio Dubón put the game out of reach with a late two-run homer and the Braves delivered the first blow of a crucial four-game series with a 5-2 win Friday at Citizens Bank Park.
Dubón’s blast came with one out and one on in the eighth inning. A 1-0 sweeper from Orion Kerkering was lifted 390 feet into the left field seats. The Braves’ center fielder bailed out of the left-handed batter’s box on the previous pitch, deking (even perhaps unintentionally) Kerkering to deliver a pitch down the plate.
“Yeah, I couldn’t see it,” Dubón said of the pitch before the homer. “And then God, man. God put me in that position, took a swing, ended up going out.”
The home run gave Dubón a career-high 11 home runs. He had previously hit 10 with the Astros in 2023. The long ball provided some breathing room for the first-place Braves, who had been clinging to a 3-2 lead after the fourth inning.
Right-hander Didier Fuentes pitched two innings of scoreless relief for the Braves to get the ball to closer Raisel Iglesias. Iglesias recorded his 30th save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth, and he now has six 30-save seasons for his career.
Friday’s win put the Braves up five games in the division and chopped the magic number to clinch down to 17.
“It’s pretty big,” Dubón said. “Everybody knows what’s at stake. But you already won. Let’s flush this one and just worry about (Saturday).”
Two of the National League’s best pitchers toed the rubber for their respective teams Friday, with Chris Sale taking the mound for the Braves and Cristopher Sánchez on the bump for the Phillies.
Neither were their usual dominant selves.
Sale (14-9) battled through six innings on a humid Philly night and left after throwing 103 pitches (69 for strikes). He gave up two runs and six hits, struck out seven, walked a batter and hit a batter. The Phillies were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position with Sale on the mound and left five on base.
“I just want to do my part,” Sale said. “We got, what, I guess 28 guys now in this clubhouse? Everyone works hard. Everyone wants to do their part. Especially in a team game, you want to pull your weight.
“Guys in the bullpen have been holding it down. What they did tonight was incredible. Our rotation has done a great job, and our offense grinds as much as anybody. I’m just a piece of the puzzle, and I want to do my part.”
Sánchez (16-5) threw 108 pitches (67 strikes) over six innings. He walked three, gave up five hits and fanned five while the Braves left five men on base during his outing.
The three runs he allowed all came in the second inning.
“We came up to the bat swinging like we always do,” Dubón said. “Gave Sale a little cushion, Sale gave us a chance to go out there and compete.”
The Braves (84-57) struck first with that second inning three-spot. Austin Riley’s one-out single to right scored Lane Thomas, who had walked to start the inning. Dubón went first to third on the play when right fielder Bryce Harper whiffed when charging to field the ball and let it roll behind him.
With Dubón at third, Ha-Seong Kim fouled off a bunt attempt that would have been a safety squeeze play. Kim got Dubón home anyway with a chopper to third. Ronald Acuña Jr., who went 3-for-5, brought Riley in from second with an RBI single to left.
The Phillies (79-62) countered in the bottom of the second, though, with a Luis Arraez single to left and Alec Bohm RBI double to deep left-center. That snapped 13 straight scoreless innings for Sale.
Bohm struck again in the fourth, hitting a two-out solo home run on a rope into the seats in left. It was Bohm’s 15th home run of the season, and the first home run allowed by Sale since July 4 — a span of eight starts.
Sale allowed a leadoff double in the sixth to Arraez, then got a groundout to third and two strikeouts to end his night.
“You know, in that situation, you don’t want to let a lot of hard work from everybody, really, go to waste. And with a handful of pitches,” Sale said. “On my end, you don’t want that to go for naught. You want to reward those guys. So right there, it’s just kind of bear down and try to keep him stranded.”
The three runs of offensive support Atlanta’s lefty ace received Friday were the most since the Braves scored four against the Padres in Sale’s July 23 start.
Turned out to be all the veteran needed.
“He’s big,” Dubón said of Sale. “He’s one of the best pitchers in the league. Having him on our side - I was in center field, and just watching the way he was throwing, I mean, I was like, ‘Man, that’s not fair for the hitter. Thank God I don’t have to face him.’ ”
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