ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves don’t have a lot of time to make up ground in the chase for their seventh straight National League East Division championship, but they’re clearly not giving up on the possibility.
Just ask the first-place Philadelphia Phillies.
Rookie right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach retired 19 hitters in a row and Adam Duvall homered as the Braves beat the Phillies 3-2 on Thursday night at Truist Park, with the hosts taking two of three games in the series between the NL East’s six-time reigning champions and the division’s current top team.
First-place Philadelphia (74-53) is six games ahead of the second-place Braves (68-59), who still have four games remaining in their season series with the Phillies — all next week in a series at Citizens Bank Park. Atlanta is currently holding down the NL’s third and final wild-card berth in the playoff race, 3 1/2 games behind a pair of NL West teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres, who are both 72-56.
“Now all the games are big,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “None are any more important than the others, because it’s just about winning games.”