PHILADELPHIA — As he was going through the postgame handshake line Saturday evening, Kyle Wright received a request from Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker.
“I want him to authenticate my own personal scorecard … I want him to sign it for me,” Snitker said. “To think of where he was a year ago to now is so awesome.”
Wright became Major League Baseball’s first 20-game winner this season as Atlanta beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 to stop a three-game losing streak.
“I don’t know if I realized how cool it was until my teammates and coaches congratulated me real quick afterward,” said Wright, a 26-year-old right-hander from Huntsville, Alabama. “It’s a team stat, and I couldn’t have done it without them scoring runs and playing defense.”
William Contreras and rookie Michael Harris II each homered and had three hits for the playoff-bound Braves (94-58), the reigning World Series champions who are also seeking a fifth straight National League East Division title.
Atlanta is second in the standings but moved within 1 1/2 games of the New York Mets, who lost 10-4 to the host Oakland Athletics. The Braves host the Mets in a three-game series next weekend, the rivals’ final scheduled head-to-head matchup this year; each team will have one three-game series after that to complete the regular season.
“We still have to take one foot ahead of the other,” said Wright, who has five losses in his 29 starts this year. “It is like we are in postseason baseball right now. We’ve clinched our spot, but hopefully we can continue winning and hopefully we can bypass that first round.”
Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning for Philadelphia (83-68), which began the day a half-game ahead of the San Diego Padres for the second NL wild card and 2 1/2 games in front of the Milwaukee Brewers for the final spot.
“We got off to a slow start,” said Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson, whose team had won three in a row.
Wright, the No. 5 overall pick of the 2017 MLB draft, came into the season with two career wins in 21 appearances. The former Vanderbilt Commodore went 5 1/3 innings and became the first Braves pitcher to win 20 games since Russ Ortiz won 21 in 2003.
Wright is the seventh 20-game winner for the Braves since they moved to Atlanta in 1966, joining Denny Neagle and four players who are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame: Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Phil Neikro and John Smoltz.
“The experience that he got last year is the biggest thing that has happened to him,” said Snitker, who then referred to Wright’s win in Game 4 of the World Series last fall, a 3-2 victory against the Houston Astros, as a springboard for the pitcher.
“He learned he was pretty good,” Snitker added. “And he came to spring training a different guy, and it’s carried him to now. Hopefully, he gets a couple of more (wins).”
Wright ran a high pitch count but didn’t allow a hit until Rhys Hoskins doubled with one out in the sixth. Harper followed with his 18th homer of the season, ending the shutout bid and chasing Wright.
“I’ve learned to have confidence, and I can keep myself under control better than I did before,” Wright said. “I trust myself, and I trust the defense. I throw a lot of groundballs, and I’ve learned to trust the defense.”
Philadelphia scored an unearned run in the seventh and had the potential tying run at the plate with two outs when A.J. Minter struck out Hoskins on a 3-2 fastball. Kenley Jansen earned his 37th save of the year with a clean ninth inning.
Atlanta generated its offense early, taking advantage of Bailey Falter’s inability to keep the ball out of the middle of the plate. The Braves got six runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings against Falter (5-4), handing the left-hander his first loss since July 24.
“Bailey threw some bad pitches that he normally does make,” Thomson said. “I was happy with our bullpen. They kept us in the game, and we got the tying run to the plate.”
Contreras hit his 20th homer of the season in the third inning. Harris added a two-run drive, his 19th, in the fourth. Travis d’Arnaud and rookie Vaughn Grissom both had two hits for Atlanta.
Wright’s success might have eased some of the pain for Atlanta fans after the team placed rookie right-hander Spencer Strider (strained left oblique) on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to Sept. 21. Strider (11-5), who reached the 200-strikeout mark for the season last Sunday in his most recent start, will miss the rest of the regular season. His status for the playoffs is uncertain.
Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. sat out for a third straight day with an ailing back and is day to day.
Right-handers are the scheduled starters in Sunday’s finale of the four-game series, with Atlanta giving the ball to Charlie Morton (9-6, 4.09 ERA) and Kyle Gibson (10-7, 4.71) on the mound for Philadelphia.