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Sheets shines as Braves top Phils

Aug 7, 2012 - 3:55 AM Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Ben Sheets pitched into the eighth inning and Freddie Freeman hit a two-run double as the Atlanta Braves took a 6-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.

Sheets (4-1) gave up seven hits and a run with one walk over 7 1/3 innings of work. Jason Heyward hit a solo home run and scored twice for the Braves, who have won four of their last five.

"He throws the ball over the plate and we made some nice plays behind him defensively," said Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez of Sheets.

Vance Worley (6-7) was tagged for four runs on six hits with three walks over 3 2/3 innings to take the loss. John Mayberry's solo homer accounted for the Phillies' offense.

"Right when he went down to warm up, his stomach was bothering him, but he said he still wanted to go out there. He said right after the game that he felt much better, but that's one of the reasons why we took him out of the game," said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

Atlanta plated three in the third to take the lead. With one out, Michael Bourn walked and Martin Prado followed with a single. After Heyward flied out, Freeman laced a double just fair down the first base line to score both runners, with Prado barely beating the throw home. Freeman took third on the throw to the plate and came home to score when Worley uncorked a wild pitch to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead.

The Braves worked another run across in the fourth when Paul Janish led off with a double, moved to third on a sac bunt from Sheets and came home when Bourn singled to make it a 4-0 game.

Philadelphia got on the board in the fourth when Mayberry lined a 1-0 pitch into the left-field stands. Sheets did not allow a home run in his first four starts coming into Monday.

In the seventh, Heyward singled and scored when Nate Schierholtz misplayed Brian McCann's fly ball, giving the Braves a 5-1 advantage.

The Phillies, meanwhile, could not get anything going offensively.

A double play from Brian Schneider ended the fourth inning and the team was retired in order in the fifth and sixth.

After stranding a runner on second in the seventh, Jimmy Rollins led off the eighth with a single and moved to second on a Domonic Brown groundout. Eric O'Flaherty entered and got the next two outs to maintain the four-run lead.

Heyward's towering blast into the right-field seats capped the scoring in the ninth and Cristhian Martinez retired the Phillies in order to finish the game.

Game Notes

Philadelphia had its sellout streak end on Monday. The team has sold out its last 257 games, beginning on July 7, 2009 against Cincinnati. It was the longest sellout streak in National League history and the third-longest in MLB history, behind Boston's current streak of 772 games and Cleveland's 455 straight sellouts from 1995-2001...Atlanta has won seven straight games against Philadelphia...Worley fell to 1-1 in six games against Atlanta...Sheets improved to 4-4 in 10 starts against the Phils.