Trea Turner and José Alvarado delivered in big spots during the Phillies’ 4-3 win at the Braves

ATLANTA — José Alvarado spun around on the mound and let out a roar. Sean Murphy had just swung through a cutter, Alvarado’s 30th pitch of the night, to dash the Braves’ comeback hopes in the ninth.

The Phillies asked a lot of the lefty in order to secure the 4-3 win over Atlanta. With a depleted bullpen on Wednesday, they needed Alvarado to get four high-leverage outs.

Jordan Romano has struggled in his previous two appearances, Tanner Banks and Matt Strahm were unavailable, and manager Rob Thomson was wary of going back to Orion Kerkering after he threw 27 pitches on Tuesday. Alvarado hadn’t pitched more than one inning since April 12, 2023 against Miami, but he didn’t mind.

» READ MORE: Phillies are showing restraint in the strike zone, and Rob Thomson likes it

“When you have that role you need to be prepared for that situation,” Alvarado said. “Four outs or maybe save the game or win the game and get ready for the next day back-to-back.”

Over his 1⅓ innings, Alvarado hit triple digits with his sinker and four-seam. After taking over for Joe Ross in the eighth, he induced a groundout from Michael Harris II to end the frame. After coming back out for the ninth, Alvarado allowed singles to Marcell Ozuna and Austin Riley to put the tying run at third, but he bounced back to strike out Murphy.

“I love watching him pitch,” Bryce Harper said. “He gets so excited at the end of games. He’s just such a good dude. I hope that he keeps this going.”

Trea Turner had put the Phillies in position for the win after hitting his first homer of the year in the top of the ninth. The first pitch Turner saw from Braves closer Raisel Iglesias was a hanging slider, and he sent it 402 feet to the left-field seats.

“My swing’s been feeling really good, and my work has been really good,” Turner said. “I feel like I’m getting myself in good counts, but just really not getting a lot of pitches to hit.”

The game was scoreless until the sixth inning as both teams scattered singles. The Phillies finally plated a run on a Bryson Stott infield hit. Starter Taijuan Walker worked his way out of a few jams to extend his scoreless streak to 10⅔ innings. He struck out five, allowing five singles and three walks.

» READ MORE: Trea Turner is a good shortstop again, thanks to his own humility and Bobby Dickerson’s coaching

The Braves put two on in the second and loaded the bases in the third, but each time Walker battled back to leave them stranded.

“I feel like my stuff has been pretty good, moving a lot more than last year,” Walker said. “I’m just trusting it more and just kind of seeing the swings I’m getting, especially when I’m behind in counts.”

In the fifth inning, Walker allowed a leadoff single to nine-hole hitter Orlando Arcia, and issued two walks to load the bases again, ending his night. José Ruiz entered in relief and induced a fly out from Riley in shallow right field, which Stott caught over his shoulder on the run to preserve what was then a 0-0 tie.

Ruiz returned for the sixth, but two walks allowed to the bottom of Atlanta’s order came back to bite him when Arcia poked a ball down the left side of the diamond, past a diving Alec Bohm and Turner, bringing Murphy home. A sacrifice fly from Harris scored another, giving Atlanta a 2-1 lead.

It was back-and-forth from there. The Phillies jumped back in front, 3-2, in the seventh when Braves reliever Dylan Lee left a four-seam fastball middle-middle for Harper, who made him pay with a two-run home run.

The Braves responded in the bottom of the frame with a homer of their own after Ross fell behind 2-0 in the count to Riley, who barreled up a sinker to tie the game at 3.

In the eighth, Jarred Kelenic attempted to move the go-ahead run into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt, but Harper fielded it perfectly on the infield grass. He made the throw in time to second to catch the lead runner.

“I was more excited about that than the homer just because I did it [for the] first time during the game,” Harper said. “It’s a tough play getting around and getting it in the glove. Felt like I was playing third base again when I was younger.”

Bohm finished 0-for-5 with four strikeouts. His batting average has fallen to .178.

“He’s thinking about it,” Thomson said. “But he’ll get out of it. I mean this guy was the All-Star third baseman last year in the National League. So I’m not gonna pull the chute on him yet, despite what everybody says.”