Kevin Gausman struggles as Braves fall to Phillies 9-4

A brief two-game winning streak for the Atlanta Braves came to an end on Sunday with a 9-4 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Braves still take two of three in the series.

The Phillies struck early against Atlanta starter Kevin Gausman. After Gausman retired the first two batters of the game, Bryce Harper staked Philadelphia to an early lead with a solo homer to center to make it 1-0. They would add to the lead in the third when rookie Adam Haseley homered to center to make it 2-0.

Gausman ran into more trouble in the fifth. Aaron Nola led off the inning with a single and moved up to second on a hit by Scott Kingery. Jean Segura followed with a single of his own to load the bases for Harper. Gausman rebounded by striking out Harper and then got Rhys Hoskins to pop out to Ozzie Albies for the second out. However, he would not escape as J.T. Realmuto jumped on a 3-2 fastball and drove it out to left for a grand slam to make it 6-0.

Gausman would exit having allowed nine hits and six runs over six innings. He struck out eight and allowed three homers.

Nola cruised through the first six innings but finally ran into trouble in the seventh. Josh Donaldson led off the inning with a walk and then moved up to second on a single by Brian McCann. Nola then struck out Adam Duvall but then served up a three run homer to Ender Inciarte to cut the deficit in half at 6-3. Johan Camargo followed with a solo shot to right to make it 6-4. It was the 11th time this season the Braves have hit back-to-back homers in a game.

Nola retired pinch hitter Matt Joyce on a fly out but then allowed a single to Ronald Acuña Jr. to extend his consecutive games streak of reaching base to 32 straight games. Acuña would steal second but would be involved in a collision with Segura on the play. Segura’s knee appeared to make contact Acuña’s shoulder and neck area. Segura would leave the game but Acuña would stay in to run the bases before exiting with neck stiffness.

After the delay, Nola would issue a walk to Ozzie Albies before being pulled from the game. He ended up allowing seven hits and four runs over 6 2/3 while finishing with eight strikeouts. Gabe Kapler would turn to Adam Morgan who got Freddie Freeman to fly out to left to end the threat.

Sean Newcomb would take over for Atlanta and retired Roman Quinn to lead off the inning before walking Harper. He then served up a two-run homer by Hoskins to left to increase the lead to 8-4. Newcomb would then strike out Realmuto but allowed a double to Cesar Hernandez before exiting in favor of Josh Tomlin who would allow a run scoring single to Haseley to extend the lead to 9-4.

Despite the loss, were able to extend their NL East lead. They will continue their road trip on Monday where they will begin a three-game series against the Washington Nationals.