Player of the gameAaron NolaPHI7.0ip 4h 1er 1bb 5k
Phillies fans love to hate Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Braves star loves being the villain. “They boo me every time and I enjoy that,” Acuña said with a smile. The boos Acuña has heard throughout this weekend grew louder as he admired a game-tying home run in the eighth inning of the Braves’ 5-4 comeback win over the Phillies on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park. He took his time rounding the bases and then created his own curtain call, by stepping to the top of the dugout stairs and waving to the irritated fans. “I love the fans from Philly because they boo me,” Acuña said. “So, that's motivation.” Tyler Mahle threw six impressive innings. Dylan Lee halted his struggles with a scoreless eighth. Acuña put a triple-digit fastball into the seats and Austin Riley hit a game-winning triple in the ninth. A potentially frustrating day became a great day for the Braves, who are now five games ahead of the second-place Phillies in the National League East. Along with strengthening their NL East lead, the Braves secured the season series by improving to 7-2 against the Phillies. The two teams will play just four more times this season. If they finish with identical records the season series would serve as the tiebreaker. “To have a good year, you’ve got to be able to look back and have a handful of games or so that you say, 'How did we win that one?'” Braves manager Walt Weiss said.
