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ATLANTA (Ticker) --
Jaret Wright
did his job, but the same could not be said of the
Atlanta Braves
' defense.
Shortstop
Rafael Furcal
's error in the eighth inning led to two runs and
Bobby Abreu
's RBI single in the 10th helped the
Philadelphia Phillies
hand the Braves just their fifth loss in 21 games, 4-3.
Entering with a five-game winning streak and a major league-leading 1.86 ERA in night games, Wright continued his renaissance season in this one, allowing one run and four hits in seven innings. The former first-round pick of the
Cleveland Indians
, who has not lost since May 22, walked three and struck out five.
"He's very similar to when he came up in Cleveland," said Phillies All-Star first baseman
Jim Thome
, a teammate of Wright with the Indians. "He's throwing strikes and he's throwing hard."
While Wright threw just 95 pitches and did not allow a hit after Abreu's leadoff double in the third, Atlanta manager
Bobby Cox
brought in
Chris Reitsma
to start the eighth inning and preserve a 3-1 lead.
Jimmy Rollins
greeted the reliever with a single and
Chase Utley
followed with a grounder to shortstop that Furcal booted.
"When a team gives you an opportunity like that, you've got to capitalize," Thome said.
Abreu hit into a forceout before Thome lifted a sacrifice fly, scoring Rollins and drawing the Phillies within a run.
Pat Burrell
drew a walk and
David Bell
singled to center, tying the game.
Rollins led off the 10th against
Antonio Alfonseca
(5-4) the same way he did vs. Reitsma, with a base hit. After stealing second, Rollins advanced to third on Utley's sacrifice, which Braves catcher
Eddie Perez
mishandled, putting runners on the corners.
Lefty reliever
Sam McConnell
came on to face Abreu, who grounded the ball up the middle and off a diving Furcal's glove, scoring Rollins with the go-ahead run.
"I didn't try to do too much," Abreu said. "I was looking for one specific pitch, be patient, put the ball in play and do my job."
"We thought we had the ballgame," Braves manager
Bobby Cox
said. "We didn't play real clean in the later innings, but we played a good game."
Abreu's hit made a winner of
Tim Worrell
(3-3), who tossed a scoreless ninth.
Billy Wagner
worked in and out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the 10th for his 15th save.
Brought on to seal the victory, Wagner got himself into immediate trouble by allowing singles by
Andruw Jones
and
Eli Marrero
. Pinch hitter
Mark DeRosa
sacrificed and Wagner decided to walk Furcal intentionally to load the bases.
The move worked as
Marcus Giles
hit a grounder that resulted in a forceout at the plate and J.D. Drew, who extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a double in the first inning, ended the game with a liner to first base.
"No-brainer, I called it," Wagner said of the intentional walk. "I said, 'I'm walking Furcal to face Giles.' Giles hit into the force, I knew I then had to make a pitch."
The win, which moved the Phillies into a first-place tie with the Braves in the National League East Division, improved Philadelphia's record against its top division rivals - Atlanta, Florida and the
New York Mets
- to just 11-21.
"That was a game we definitely needed, it was a two-game swing," Phillies manager
Larry Bowa
said. "We'll take it. It doesn't really matter how we won."
"It's a team that's your main adversary," Wright said. "Any other team, it would have been tough (to lose) but not as hard."
The Phillies are no strangers to coming from behind, gaining their NL-leading 30th comeback victory of the season.
"This is a team that never gives up," Abreu said. "The game is never over for us. We've been making a lot of comebacks."
The Braves took advantage of a miscue by Philadelphia center fielder
Jason Michaels
in the first inning to build a 2-0 lead. Furcal led off the inning with a liner that Michaels misjudged, allowing the ball to sail over his head for a triple.
Giles followed with a blast over the center field wall for his fifth homer.
The Phillies halved the deficit in the second when starter
Eric Milton
kept alive the inning with a two-out single and Rollins followed with a run-scoring base hit.
Milton, who remains in search of his 12th win, allowed three runs and five hits in seven innings.
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