PHILADELPHIA -- Nick Pivetta struck out seven over seven innings, and Nick Williams and Aaron Altherr each homered to lead the Phillies to a 3-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Monday night.
The Phillies took the opener of the three-game series and moved a half game behind Atlanta for first place in the NL East.
Philadelphia hasn't had a winning record since it made the last of five straight postseason berths in 2011. The Phillies lost 96 games in 2017 -- the third consecutive season of more than 90 losses.
Under first-year Manager Gabe Kapler, the Phillies are back in a battle for first in late May for the first time since Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Cole Hamels dominated during the glory years. But in a year where the Eagles won the Super Bowl, Villanova won a national championship and the 76ers won 52 games, perhaps Philly fans need more than 45 games to hop on the bandwagon. Citizens Bank Park-- the site of an NL-record 257 consecutive sellouts that ended in 2012 -- was thin with just over 21,000 fans announced on a gorgeous night.
"It's a big one for us," Kapler said.
And, it came against a familiar rival.
The Braves played the Phillies for a whopping 10th time already, resulting in this quirk: Atlanta starter Mike Foltynewicz faced Pivetta for the fourth time this season.
The right-handers each delivered outings worthy of two teams fighting for first.
Pivetta (4-2) allowed only four hits, walked one and won his third consecutive start. Seranthony Dominguez tossed a scoreless eighth and Hector Neris finished the five-hitter in the ninth with his ninth save.
Foltynewicz (3-3) allowed 6 hits and struck out 5 in 6 innings. His lone run allowed came when Williams hit a solo shot in the fourth, an opposite-field poke to left for his third homer of the year. The Phillies have homered in 16 games in a row.
Altherr pinch hit for Pivetta in the seventh and crushed a two-run homer to left off Shane Carle for a 3-0 lead.
NATIONALS 10, PADRES 2 Juan Soto, the youngest player in the majors at 19, hit a three-run home run in his first career start as the Washington Nationals defeated the San Diego Padres. Mark Reynolds had two solo home runs for the Nationals, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Bryce Harper had a home run and an RBI double.
METS 2, MARLINS 0 Jason Vargas returned to the rotation with five excellent innings, AJ Ramos pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and the New York Mets beat the Miami Marlins. The Mets got their fourth consecutive victory, following up a three-game sweep of NL West-leading Arizona. New York is 6-2 in its past eight games, 5-1 on this homestand and 24-19 overall.
BREWERS 4, DIAMONDBACKS 2 Travis Shaw, Domingo Santana and Lorenzo Cain each hit home runs off Zack Greinke, and the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona has lost five in a row and 11 of 12, scoring just 24 runs in that span. Greinke (3-3) struck out 9, walked none and gave up 5 hits in 6 innings, but the home runs did him in.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
YANKEES 10, RANGERS 5 Gleyber Torres hit two of the four Yankees homers off Bartolo Colon and New York denied the Texas Rangers starter a milestone victory only three days before his 45th birthday. Aaron Judge and Neil Walker also went deep against Colon. Judge's 12th homer, leading off the fifth, snapped a 4-4 tie and put the Yankees ahead to stay.
ORIOLES 3, WHITE SOX 2 Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Mark Trumbo homered, helping Andrew Cashner and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox.
TWINS 4, TIGERS 2 Logan Morrison forced in the go-ahead run with a four-pitch walk in the eighth inning after striking out in his first three at-bats, propelling the Minnesota Twins to a victory over the Detroit Tigers. Jose Berrios (5-4) struck out 9, giving up just 3 hits and 2 walks over 8 innings for Minnesota.
INTERLEAGUE
CARDINALS 6, ROYALS 0 Miles Mikolas pitched a four-hitter for his first career shutout and Tyler O'Neill homered for the third consecutive game and drove in four runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals over the Kansas City Royals. Mikolas needed just 109 pitches to remain unbeaten and struck out a career-high nine. The Cardinals won for the third time in four games and beat the Royals for the fifth consecutive time. Mikolas (6-0) retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.
Sports on 05/22/2018