ATLANTA — Raisel Iglesias’ fifth pitch of the ninth inning Wednesday night was an 84 mph slider, smack-dab in the middle of the plate.
It didn’t move.
It was exactly what Trea Turner needed to see and he didn’t miss it, demolishing it 402 feet to left field against the Braves’ top reliever to give the Phillies a 4-3 win.
Two innings earlier, Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer off left-hander Dylan Lee to briefly put the Phillies ahead, only for the Braves to fight back quickly with an Austin Riley solo shot off Joe Ross.
Another tight affair from start to finish. The Phils can’t stop playing close games.
“You’ve got to win the tough ones, right? Win the ones that you’re supposed to and then win games like that,” Harper said. “I thought we let the game go yesterday and getting 1-1 there with (Spencer) Schwellenbach tomorrow. Big win right there.”
Wednesday made it six Phillies games in a row decided one or two runs and that already matters because of how taxed the bullpen has been. The Phillies’ series opener at Truist Park began a stretch of 16 straight days with a game, meaning the starters won’t get any extra days and the relievers will be used plenty.
Through 11 games, Matt Strahm and Jose Alvarado have pitched six times and Orion Kerkering and Jordan Romano have made five appearances apiece. Those were the Phillies’ core four leverage relievers entering the season but Romano’s early struggles seem to have already altered the bullpen picture, at least temporarily.
Manager Rob Thomson used three relievers for more than an inning Wednesday. The first was Jose Ruiz, who recorded four outs to get the ball from the fifth inning to the seventh. Ross pitched the seventh and retired the first two hitters he faced to bring up Riley, who tied the game with a homer after popping up with two outs and the bases loaded twice earlier.
Ross picked up five outs and Jose Alvarado secured the final four to finish the game, striking out Sean Murphy with runners on the corners for the 27th out.
“I feel so great, man. I feel great,” Alvarado said. “I changed my routine. The plan I have right now in the fifth inning, it’s good. I need to keep it up like that. I don’t need to change anything.”
It’s helped Alvarado that he firmly knows what his role is this season. He knows he will either be the lefty closing out the game or the lefty used in the seventh or eighth inning if the opponent’s best chance to score has come up. There were times last season when he was fourth, fifth, sixth in the hierarchy.
“Before, you know, it’s hard when you don’t know what’s going on with you because everybody after the fifth or sixth inning, the phone call, everybody panics, ‘Oh, that’s not me,'” he said. “Now everybody’s got a role. You know, today it’s me. Tomorrow, Romano. Everybody needs to be ready. The team is in a good spot. We need to keep it up like that.
“When you have that role, you need to be prepared for that situation. Four outs or maybe save the game or win the game and get ready for the next day back-to-back. I’m so happy they gave me the opportunity tonight to get four outs.”
This was an important game for both Turner and Harper.
Turner had been searching for his stroke. He entered the night with one extra-base hit and a rate of hard-hit balls (19%) that was less than half his career mark (41%).
He reached three times with a walk, single and homer. He’s been walking more so far this season with six in nine games, and he adjusted within the game Wednesday night after chasing three breaking balls in a first-inning strikeout vs. Grant Holmes.
“My swing’s been feeling really good and my work has been really good,” he said. “I feel like I’m getting myself in good counts but just really not getting a lot of pitches to hit. Yesterday, I got some pitches to hit for the first time in a while and just kind of fouled them off, took great swings, just fouled them off. I felt like if I keep swinging at those, and getting myself in those good counts, then it’ll come.”
Harper’s two-run shot was his biggest at-bat in the early going, and he also made a crucial defensive play in the bottom of the eighth. Bryan De La Cruz singled off Ross to start the inning and Jarred Kelenic laid down a bunt, which Harper charged aggressively before firing to second base to nab the lead runner in a tie game.
It was the first time Harper has ever made that play and he was fired up about it postgame, as much if not more so than his bomb.
“I was more excited about that than the homer just because I did it, first time during the game,” he said. “It’s a tough play getting around and getting it in the glove. Felt like I was playing third base again when I was younger.
“You see a lot of first basemen do it from (Matt) Olson to Ryan Zimmerman and who else. … I thought besides the homer, I thought that was the coolest play of the game because I’ve never done it.”
The Phillies are 8-3 and try for a fourth straight series win on Thursday night behind Jesus Luzardo.
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