Phillies 5 - 2 Braves
Final
  for this game

Harang, Francoeur lead Phillies over Braves

May 5, 2015 - 3:53 AM Atlanta, GA (SportsNetwork.com) - Aaron Harang made another strong start against his former team and the Phillies scored three runs in the first inning to beat the Braves.

Harang went six innings and another old Brave, Jeff Francoeur, had his first four-hit game in almost three years as Philadelphia rolled to a 5-2 win over Atlanta in the opener of a three-game series Monday night.

After throwing eight shutout innings against the Braves in Philadelphia last month, Harang (3-2) returned to Turner Field for the first time since signing with the Phillies and gave up just one run, five hits and one walk.

The veteran right-hander was 12-12 with a 3.57 ERA in 33 starts for Atlanta last season. Coming off his worst start of the season in St. Louis last week, he threw 57 of his 93 pitches for strikes and retired eight batters in a row at one point.

Francoeur's fourth hit was an RBI triple in the ninth inning for his second run batted in. Darin Ruf added three hits and the Phillies banged out 14 as a team for their second win in a row on the heels of a five-game losing streak.

Francoeur, who played his first four-plus major league seasons for Atlanta, got his first four-hit game since May 20, 2012, with Kansas City.

"Last year I came back here and it was weird. I felt like I tried so hard and it was only my third game back in the big leagues," said Francoeur. "I'm on this team to go after lefties and do my job. I needed to pick it up today and do it and luckily we were able to do it."

Closer Jonathan Papelbon gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth but pitched out of the jam to seal the win.

Braves starter Alex Wood (1-2) went just 4 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on ninth hits and two walks. Atlanta has lost each of the young left-hander's last five starts.

"Everything will straighten itself out," said Braves center fielder Cameron Maybin. "We just have to put good at-bats together."

Harang and Wood faced each other in an April 24 game that the Phillies won 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth. Harang allowed just two hits in eight innings and Wood threw 5 2/3 frames.

Wood threw 90 pitches on Monday and was taken out after giving up consecutive one-out singles to Ruf and Francoeur in the fifth inning.

The Phillies already had a 3-0 lead after sending eight batters to the plate against Wood in the first. Ben Revere led off with a single and the Phillies scored all three runs with two outs on Francoeur's RBI double and Carlos Ruiz's two-run single.

Harang had retired eight batters in a row when Andrelton Simmons tripled with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Freddie Freeman followed with a single to end Harang's scoreless streak against the Braves this season at 13 innings.

The Phillies restored their three-run lead in the seventh after Chase Utley was hit by a pitch, moved to third on Francoeur's single and scored on Cesar Hernandez's infield single on a grounder second baseman Jace Peterson couldn't handle.

Jake Diekman threw 24 pitches in the bottom of the seventh but retired the last two batters with runners on second and third base. Ken Giles left a runner at third in the eighth inning for the Phillies.

Game Notes

Phillies center fielder Odubel Herrera struck out in his first three at-bats ... The Phillies are 3-5 on a 10-game road trip ... The Braves, who were coming off a 5-0 win over Cincinnati on Sunday, haven't posted back-to-back victories since starting the season 5-0.






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