ATLANTA - With the Atlanta Braves closing in on another division championship, Max Fried wanted to pick up where Charlie Morton left off the night before on the mound.
"I think it just kind of alleviated any kind of stress or anxiety coming into it, just knowing that he went out there and laid everything on the line and had such a good start," Fried said. "I just wanted to follow that up."
Fried pitched seven strong innings and Austin Riley drove in three runs as Atlanta beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 on Wednesday night to move within one victory of a fourth straight National League East title.
The Braves have won nine of their past 11 games and reduced their magic number to one. Philadelphia, which dropped 4 1/2 games back in the standings with its third straight loss, can be eliminated from postseason contention with one loss or one Atlanta win. The teams conclude their three-game series Thursday night at Truist Park, and each has three games left after that as the Braves host the New York Mets and the Phillies visit the Miami Marlins to close the regular season.
Fried (14-7) improved to 7-0 with a 1.46 ERA over his past 11 starts, and the Braves are 10-1 in those games. The 27-year-old left-hander allowed two runs (one earned) and four hits with no walks and six strikeouts on Wednesday.
Morton threw seven scoreless innings Tuesday, when the Braves beat the Phillies 2-1 in the series opener.
"It's been huge," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. "Charlie last night, and Max coming off a nine-inning complete game. Honestly, he was probably spent after the sixth, and he went out in the seventh and had a 1-2-3 inning. It just shows the pitch ability of this kid and what he can do.
"They're both battle tested, as they continue to (show) now. That's pretty good to have two guys like that you can lean on."
Fried, who won his seventh straight decision, pitched a three-hitter Friday at San Diego and tossed seven scoreless innings to win 3-0 on Sept. 19 at San Francisco. He had gone 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA in two previous starts against the Phillies this year. Fried's 38 victories since the start of 2019 rank second in the majors during that span, trailing the New York Yankees' Gerrit Cole (43).
Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola (9-9) gave up three runs and seven hits in six innings Wednesday. He has a 6.00 ERA in six starts this month.
Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper, a leading candidate to win his second NL MVP award, and cleanup hitter J.T. Realmuto are a combined 0-for-15 in the series. Harper, who snapped a 23-game on-base streak, is 0-for-7 with five strikeouts. He struck out three times against Fried.
Phillies manager Joe Girardi knows his team's postseason hope is on life support.
"We have to win every game, so we've got to do whatever it takes, obviously, and then we need a lot of help," Girardi said. "It's frustrating. The game kind of got away from us in the seventh. Nola battled his butt off to only give up the three runs tonight, but again we didn't do much off Max Fried tonight."
The Braves never trailed Wednesday, getting two runs in the first as Jorge Soler and Freddie Freeman hit back-to-back singles before Riley's one-out single to right pushed home Soler and moved over Freeman, who then scored from third base on a fielder's choice.
Atlanta led 3-1 when Ozzie Albies singled to begin the third inning and scored from first on Eddie Rosario's two-out double.
Riley made it 5-2 in the seventh with a two-run double off Héctor Neris down the left-field line. Dansby Swanson followed with a two-run single up the middle off Sam Coonrod for a 7-2 lead.
Ronald Torreyes' RBI single in the second inning ended a streak of 17 2/3 scoreless innings for Fried. Odúbel Herrera had two doubles for the Phillies, including to lead off the sixth. He moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a ground out to make it 3-2.
Albies scored his 100th run of the season to become, at 5-foot-8, the second-shortest player in MLB history with a season of at least 30 home runs, 100 runs and 100 RBIs. Hack Wilson, listed at 5-6, accomplished the feat from 1927-30 with the Chicago Cubs.
In the finale, the starters on the mound will be right-handers Kyle Gibson (10-8, 3.60 ERA) for the Phillies and Ian Anderson (8-5, 3.60) for the Braves.