Realmuto's grand slam helps Phillies top Braves, avoid sweep

J.T. Realmuto hit a grand slam, three other Phillies went deep and Philadelphia avoided a three-game sweep with a 9-4 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Aaron Nola (9-2) cruised through six scoreless innings before faltering in the seventh when the Braves tagged Philadelphia's ace right-hander for four runs. He left after surrendering seven hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in 6 2/3 innings.

Bryce Harper, Rhys Hoskins and Adam Haseley also homered for Philadelphia, which pulled within 6 1/2 games of the NL-East leading Braves.

Ender Inciarte and Johan Camargo homered for Atlanta, which outscored Philadelphia 24-9 while winning the first two games of the series.

Harper staked Nola to a 1-0 lead with a two-out solo shot to right-center on the first pitch he saw in the first inning off Kevin Gausman (3-6).

Haseley made it 2-0 in the third with a drive to left-center, and Realmuto did the most damage with his grand slam in the fifth.

The Phillies loaded the bases with no outs, then Gausman struck out Harper and got Hoskins to pop out to second on a 3-0 pitch. But Realmuto picked the two Phillies stars up with his third career grand slam, drilling a 3-2, 96 mph fastball deep into the seats in left.

Gausman allowed six runs on nine hits with eight strikeouts and a walk, falling to 0-4 with a 6.45 ERA in four career starts against Philadelphia.

The Braves scored four runs in the seventh off Nola.

Inciarte got Atlanta on the board with a three-run shot, driving a 1-2, 90 mph fastball into the seats in right for his second homer in as many games.

Camargo followed by pulling Nola's next pitch, an 86 mph changeup, over the wall in right to cut the margin to 6-4. The hit snapped a 0-for-16 skid for Camargo, who is filling in for injured Dansby Swanson (bruised right foot) at shortstop.

The Braves hit back-to-back homers for the 11th time this season to tie a franchise record.

Nola got the second out before Ronald Acuna Jr. extended his major league-leading on-base streak to 32 consecutive games with a single that was followed by Ozzie Albies' walk. Phillies manager Gabe Kapler then lifted Nola for Adam Morgan, and the left-hander got Freddie Freeman to fly out to left-center to end the threat.

Hoskins got two of the runs back in the bottom of the frame, launching his 22nd of the season over the wall in left off Sean Newcomb.

Nola stayed in good form, moving to 3-1 with a 1.99 ERA over his last eight starts. The rest of Philadelphia's starters have a 6.36 ERA over the same stretch.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Phillies: SS Jean Segura left the game with two outs in the seventh with a bruised right shin after Acuna slid into him while stealing second. Acuna's head slammed into Segura on a safe headfirst slide.

Braves: Acuna finished the top of the inning but was replaced in right field in the bottom half due to neck stiffness.

UP NEXT

Braves: Open a three-game series at Washington on Monday night. Atlanta LHP Dallas Keuchel (3-3, 3.50) opposes Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (8-5, 3.25).

Phillies: After an off day, Phillies LHP Drew Smyly (1-5, 7.69) faces San Francisco RHP Tyler Beede (3-4, 4.85) on Tuesday night in the first contest of a three-game set.