Lee shines as Phils top Braves
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cliff Lee tossed seven scoreless innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-1, in the middle installment of a three-game series.
Lee (4-7) gave up five hits while striking out five and walking one for the Phillies, who have won three in a row and seven of nine. He has won back-to- back starts for the first time this year.
Jimmy Rollins hit a solo homer for Philadelphia, which got an RBI apiece from John Mayberry, Chase Utley, Ty Wigginton and Lee.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I think we're just playing better, well rounded baseball," Lee said.
Martin Prado homered for the Braves, who have dropped three straight.
"I'm worried about the offense, I'm not worried about the other parts of our game," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "I feel like we're healthy, which we weren't last year, we're pitching well. I think going into this series or after the All-Star break we might have been number one in pitching or somewhere along there, but I worry about our offense. It seems like our offense, when it goes bad, it goes bad. We're not keeping the line moving offensively and we've got to fix that or rectify that somehow."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Atlanta starter Tim Hudson (13-5) allowed five runs on nine hits over five- plus innings. He lost for the first time since July 1.
The Braves hold the first wild card position in the NL and sit 6 1/2 games back of the Washington Nationals for first place in the NL East.
The Phillies got on the board in the first inning. Juan Pierre reached base on a fielder's choice, moved to second on Ryan Howard's infield single and raced home on Mayberry's single to center.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rollins led off the third with a homer off the right-field foul pole, giving Philadelphia a 2-0 lead.
The Braves had a chance to get on the board in the fourth, but left men on first and third.
The Phillies tacked on another run in the fifth after Pierre singled and scored on Utley's double to right-center field.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The visitors scored two more runs in the sixth to make it a 5-0 contest. Laynce Nix, Kevin Frandsen and Erik Kratz singled to load the bases with no outs. Hudson then walked Lee to force in a run. Luis Avilan came in from the bullpen and recorded the first out of the inning. Pinch-hitter Wigginton, though, followed with an RBI fielder's choice.
Atlanta loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom half, but Brian McCann popped out.
Prado homered off B.J. Rosenberg in the eighth to make it a 5-1 game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Antonio Bastardo tossed 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to secure the victory.
Game Notes
The Braves lead the season series by a 9-5 margin ... Philadelphia activated outfielder Nate Schierholtz from the 15-day disabled list on Saturday ... Atlanta recalled catcher J.C. Boscan and outfielder Jose Constanza from Triple-A Gwinnett, purchased the contracts of outfielder Lyle Overbay and pitcher Peter Moylan from Gwinnett and added infielder Jeff Baker to the active roster ... Moylan tossed a scoreless eighth inning on Saturday, his first action in the majors this season after having shoulder surgery almost 11 months ago.