Phillies 5, Braves 4
ATLANTA -- The Philadelphia Phillies withstood a ninth-inning rally and defeated the Atlanta Braves 5-4 on Saturday night at Turner Field.
Philadelphia led 5-1 in the ninth, but closer Jonathan Papelbon surrendered a three-run homer to Justin Upton, his 27th home run of the season, with two outs. Freddie Freeman followed with a single and Papelbon walked Evan Gattis before Chris Johnson was retired on a game-ending grounder to shortstop.
Luis Garcia (1-1) was credited with the victory. He followed starter Ethan Martin with two innings of scoreless relief, striking out three. It was the sixth straight scoreless appearance for Garcia, a 10-inning stretch that has seen his ERA fall from 5.48 to 3.73.
Philadelphia, which had produced only one run in losing the first two games of the series, collected 13 hits. Cesar Hernandez had a career-high four hits. The Phillies scored five runs for the first time since Sept. 17, a stretch of nine games.
Atlanta starter Mike Minor (13-9) recovered from a shaky start, which saw him allow two runs in the first inning. Those were the only runs he allowed in six innings, and he struck out six. But Minor, expected to be the Game 2 playoff starter, failed for the fifth time to win a game in September.
Phillies starter Ethan Martin pitched only three innings. The rookie had made seven relief appearances since his last start on Sept. 3 against Washington. He allowed one run and four hits, striking out two and walking one.
The Phillies scored two runs in the first inning. Hernandez singled and Jimmy Rollins doubled. They scored on a two-out single by rookie Cameron Rupp, his first major-league RBI.
The Braves cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first when Jason Heyward singled, went to third on Upton's bloop to right field and scored on Freeman's sacrifice fly to center. It was Freeman's 108th RBI, the most by a Braves player since Andruw Jones drove in 129 in 2006.
NOTES: The Braves rested C Brian McCann for the second game because of a minor groin pull. McCann may catch a few innings on Sunday and get a couple of at-bats, manager Fredi Gonzalez said. ... The Braves said 2B Dan Uggla and OF B.J. Upton likely will be included on the postseason roster despite their sub-.200 batting averages. ... Injured Philadelphia 1B Ryan Howard (knee) has joined the team for the final series in Atlanta. He is not active and has spent the last two weeks rehabbing in Clearwater, Fla. ... The Phillies send former Braves farmhand Zach Miner (0-1, 3.08) to the mound in the season finale to face rookie Julio Teheran (13-8, 3.09).
