Robbie Grossman drove in a pair of runs to spark the Braves to a 5-2 win and a three-game sweep over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
Spencer Strider fanned 10 to become the first Atlanta (91-55) rookie to record 200 strikeouts.
Strider did not allow a hit until Alec Bohm delivered a solo homer with two outs in the sixth. Center fielder Michael Harris II made a leaping effort to catch the ball and barely missed depriving Bohm of his 12th homer.
In his six innings of work, Strider allowed one hit, three walks and struck out 10. It was Strider’s sixth game with double-digit strikeouts and gives him 202 for the season.
Grossman went 2-for-4 and got the Braves on the board in the third inning when he doubled home Harris, who started the inning with a double. Grossman added a solo homer in the seventh inning, his seventh.
Grossman has hit five home runs since being traded to Atlanta in early August.
The Atlanta bullpen got a scoreless inning from both Tyler Matzek and A.J. Minter. Jesse Chavez allowed a solo homer to J.T. Realmuto with two outs in the ninth.
Philadelphia (80-66) starter Bailey Falter went 4 2/3 innings and allowed one run on four hits, two walks and three strikeouts. He was relieved by Andrew Bellatti when the Braves put runners on the corners in the fifth and he fanned Austin Riley to end the threat.
But the Braves tacked on three runs against the Philadelphia bullpen. Atlanta regained the lead in the sixth when William Contreras hit a solo homer, his 19th, against Connor Brogdon (2-1). The Braves added two more in the seventh off Sam Coonrod and took a 4-1 lead on Grossman’s homer and Riley’s RBI single. Atlanta scored one against David Robertson on Marcell Ozuna’s RBI double in the eighth.
Philadelphia first baseman Rhys Hoskins was back in the lineup after missing two games with a bruised right hand and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
— Field Level Media
