ATLANTA -- The Philadelphia Phillies weren't going to squander this lead.
Tomas Perez and Jason Michaels both hit grand slams as the Phillies reached a season high in runs, routing the Atlanta Braves 18-5 on Tuesday night to keep pace with Florida in the NL wild-card race.
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| Tomas Perez celebrates his second-inning grand slam with Chase Utley.(Getty Images) |
The Phillies scored three times in the first and blew it open with a seven-run second. A night earlier, they jumped to a 4-0 lead over the Braves in the opening inning, only to get shut out the rest of the way in a 6-4 loss.
"You never know how many runs will be enough against them," Philadelphia manager Larry Bowa said. "I thought the four runs last night would stand up, but it didn't. You never have enough runs against that team."
For the second night in a row, Lieberthal got the Phillies going with a three-run homer in the first. The Phillies finished off Shane Reynolds in the second.
The Atlanta starter lasted 1 1/3 innings, matching the second-shortest start of his career. He gave up four hits, equaled a season high with five walks and was charged with seven runs.
"There's really not much I can say," said Reynolds, who hung around nearly three hours to meet with reporters. "It was nothing physical. I was just barely missing for balls, then missing horribly when I had to throw strikes. That's not a good combination."
Philadelphia won for the seventh time in eight games to stay even with the Marlins for the wild card. Florida defeated the New York Mets 3-1.
In the second, Marlon Byrd singled, Jimmy Rollins and Bobby Abreu walked, and Jim Thome knocked out Reynolds with a two-run single.
Reliever Trey Hodges fanned Lieberthal for the second out, but Pat Burrell singled in a run and Chase Utley walked to reload the bases. Perez followed with his first career grand slam, a towering drive into the right-field seats that made it 10-0.
Perez nearly hit another homer in the fourth, settling for an RBI double off the left-field wall. He added another double in the sixth before leaving the game.
"I enjoy every game I play," Perez said. "You had to enjoy this game."
The Braves began pulling their starters after Philadelphia pushed across three runs in the fourth, extending the lead to 13-2. Things got really ugly in the sixth, when Michaels' first career grand slam capped a five-run outburst.
Michaels had only entered in the bottom of the fifth, relieving Abreu in right field.
Randy Wolf (14-9) cruised to the win, allowing two runs in five innings before getting the rest of the night off.
"It was one of those days when you just didn't feel very well," Wolf said. "I was surprised that my velocity was OK."
The Braves gave up two grand slams in a game for only the second time in modern franchise history. Miller and Meadows hit their 1921 slams against Boston.
Philadelphia, which twice scored 16 runs in a game this season, went past its previous season high when the five-run sixth pushed the lead to 18-2 and sent most of the crowd scurrying for the exits. Only about 1,500 hung around till the end.
The lone bright spot for the Braves: Javy Lopez, Julio Franco and Mark DeRosa homered to give the team 215 for the season, tying the Atlanta record set in 1998.
"It's one of those games that got away from us real quick," said DeRosa, who homered for the second night in a row and was one of only two Braves starters who played the whole game. "You have to become a little bit selfish. You don't want to give up at-bats, so you bear down and try to stay in the game."
Notes
- The Phillies scored their most runs since an 18-3 victory over Montreal on June 2, 2002.
- The Braves did give up two grand slams on Sept. 12, 1974, but they came in separate games of a doubleheader at Cincinnati.
- Wolf made two of the three outs in the second as the Phillies sent 10 to the plate.
- An inexplicable decision by Braves third-base coach Fredi Gonzalez: He waived home DeRosa in the third with Atlanta trailing 10-2. The runner was easily thrown out by center fielder Byrd.
- Reynolds also went 1 1/3 innings in a 1997 game while pitching for the Astros at San Diego. His shortest outing was a one-inning stint vs. the Braves at Turner Field on July 29, 2000. The Astros lost 13-5.
- The Braves have surrendered 10 or more runs 11 times this season, but fell short of their season high: a 20-1 loss to Florida.
- Travis Chapman made his major league debut for Philadelphia in the seventh, flying out as a pinch hitter.
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