The Phillies’ Nick Castellanos connects for a two-run home run against the Braves during the seventh inning on Thursday. Matt Slocum | AP photo PHILADELPHIA — Nick Castellanos hit a go-ahead two-run homer in seventh inning, Brandon Marsh hit a three-run shot in the sixth and the Philadelphia Phillies built on their NL East lead with a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday night.
The Phillies hold a six-game lead over the Braves for the division crown after taking the opener of a four-game series.
It got fun late for Philly.
Braves starter Charlie Morton allowed the leadoff runner to reach in five of the first six innings and struggled to throw strikes but was bailed out by a Philadelphia offense that wasted runners in scoring position.
That is, until Marsh went deep the other way to left field off Morton for his 14th homer of the year that made it 4-3 in the sixth.
Castellanos, perhaps the most consistent Phillies slugger in the second half of the season, crushed a two-out homer to center off Grant Holmes (2-1) that got a rise out of the 40,000-plus fans in attendance and put the Phillies up 5-4 in the seventh.
Orion Kerkering (3-2) struck out two in 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for the win. Jeff Hoffman worked the ninth for his 10th save.
METS 3, DIAMONDBACKS 2
PHOENIX — Jose Iglesias drove in Tyrone Taylor with a base hit in the ninth inning, and New York rallied for a win over Arizona.
Jesse Winker hit a one-out double off Justin Martinez before Taylor entered as a pinch runner. Taylor advanced to third on a flyball to right from J.D. Martinez and Iglesias ripped a hard grounder up the middle that deflected off the glove of diving shortstop Geraldo Perdomo.
BLUE JAYS 2, RED SOX 0
BOSTON — Bowden Francis took a no-hitter into the sixth and left after allowing just one hit in seven innings, and Toronto beat Boston.
Francis faced the minimum through 5 1/3 innings, with the only Boston baserunner coming when Jarren Duran reached on an error in the fourth.
BREWERS 6, GIANTS 0
MILWAUKEE — Aaron Civale and Aaron Ashby combined on a two-hit shutout and William Contreras stole home to help Milwaukee beat San Francisco.
The NL Central-leading Brewers won two of three from the Giants. They are 9 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs for the biggest division lead in the majors.
CARDINALS 4, PADRES 1
ST. LOUIS — Masyn Winn hit a solo homer while Sonny Gray threw six strong innings in leading St. Louis to a victory over San Diego to earn a split in the four-game series.
Winn, a rookie, scored the game-winning run Wednesday after he hit a two-out single to start the ninth inning rally. In the four games against San Diego, Winn produced nine hits in 17 at-bats.
RANGERS 2, WHITE SOX 1
CHICAGO — Corey Seager hit his 200th career homer and Nathan Eovaldi pitched seven scoreless innings, leading Texas to a victory over lowly Chicago.
Eovaldi matched his season high with 10 strikeouts in his second straight win. The right-hander was working on a no-hitter before Gavin Sheets hit a leadoff single in the fifth.
REDS 10, ATHLETICS 9
CINCINNATI — TJ Friedl capped a three-run ninth inning with a two-run single, and Cincinnati beat Oakland.
Tyler Stephenson and Will Benson homered for Cincinnati, which had lost five of six. Stephenson finished with three hits and two RBIs.
MARLINS 12, ROCKIES 8
DENVER — Derek Hill had three hits and the second two-homer game of his career, Kyle Stowers had three hits and four RBIs, and Miami beat Colorado to earn a split of the four-game series.
Ali Sánchez had three hits and stole home, Otto Lopez had three hits, and Connor Norby had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 10 games for the Marlins, who had a season-high 18 hits.
ANGELS 3, TIGERS 0
DETROIT — Zach Neto homered, rookie Jack Kochanowicz pitched six shutout innings and Los Angeles ended a seven-game losing streak with a win over Detroit.
Los Angeles had lost 12 of 14 and were 1-8 going into the last game of their road trip. Detroit had won six straight, but left 10 runners on base.
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