Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos homer as Phillies storm back to beat Braves

When Brandon Marsh stepped into the on-deck circle in the sixth inning on Thursday night, he decided to make an adjustment. He’d struck out in the second, and in the fourth, and had runners on first and second with one out.

He was determined not to strike out again. Charlie Morton had fed the Phillies a steady diet of curveballs throughout the game — 52 of his 105 total pitches thrown — and Marsh quickly got behind in the count in his first two at-bats.

“I was like, ‘This is not a guy you want to be down in the count against,’” Marsh said. “Just with how good his stuff is.”

So, he did something he never does.

“I sat soft,” he said.

It worked. Morton threw Marsh a curveball, and the Phillies outfielder hit it 382 feet to left center field. The wind may have helped carry it over the wall, but it was a home run, nonetheless. The long shot cut the Phillies’ 4-0 deficit to 4-3, and injected life into the ballpark.

The Phillies took that momentum and ran with it. The lineup added a pair of runs just one inning later, in the bottom of the seventh. Trea Turner walked and Nick Castellanos launched a two-out, two-run home run to center field to give his team a 5-4 lead.

They held onto to that lead for a 5-4 win over Atlanta. It was a big win, for a few reasons. The Phillies now have a six-game lead over the Braves in the National League East, and are one game closer to winning the season series (which they need to sweep the Braves to win).

But beyond that, it was also a good reset from Wednesday night’s game, when they were shutout by the Astros and didn’t collect their first until the eighth inning.

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“It didn’t feel like yesterday,” Castellanos said of the at-bats. “Yesterday, I felt like we were getting dominated a little bit. Today, I felt like we were fighting the whole time.”

Morton’s curveball-heavy approach helped him throughout the first five innings. He did not have his best control — allowing four walks and hitting one batter — but was able to get by unscathed, by keeping the Phillies off-balance. They collected only two hits and no runs off of Morton before the sixth inning.

Despite the lack of results, particularly with runners in scoring position, their at-bats were not bad. They weren’t chasing wildly out of the zone. And in the sixth and seventh innings, it all came together.

Castellanos was eager to give Marsh credit.

“That [home run] kind of jump-started everything,” he said.

The bullpen took it from there. Orion Kerkering entered in relief of starter Cristopher Sánchez in the sixth and quickly induced a flyout to end the inning. Kerkering came back for the seventh and retired the top of the Braves’ order on a flyout and two strikeouts.

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Sanchez pitched better than his line. He allowed four runs, two of them earned, but three of those runs were driven in by Matt Olson, who hit two home runs off of Sanchez, and is slugging. 931 over his last seven games. The two home runs allowed to Olson were the first home runs Sanchez had given up to a left-handed batter this season.

“I think Sanchy was really good,” Thomson said. “1-0 fastball down the middle to the hottest hitter in baseball right now, and then he got on a changeup. But other than that, I thought he was really good.”

In the eighth, Matt Strahm struck out Olson, hit Travis d’Arnaud with a pitch, and struck out Ramón Laureano after a 10-pitch at-bat. He then induced a lineout from Michael Harris II to end the inning.

The Phillies did not add on in the bottom of the eighth, even though they had an opportunity to do so. Marsh hit a lead-off double, but Austin Hays grounded into a double play and Kyle Schwarber struck out.

It ended up not mattering. Jeff Hoffman pitched the ninth. He induced a groundout from Orlando Arcia and struck out Luke Williams to get the first two outs. The Braves’ last chance was former Phillie Whit Merrifield, who worked Hoffman to a 3-2 count, but grounded out to end the game.

Third baseman Alec Bohm left the game in the third inning with left hand discomfort, the Philies said.

Bohm hurt his hand on a swing in the first inning, fouling off the ball. He was examined by assistant athletic trainer Christian Bermudez after that swing, but Bohm finished his at-bat. He played third base in the next half inning.

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“It was just kind of a weird finish,” Thomson said. “I don’t know if he pinched something in [his hand]. Kind of a zinger. But he’s sore right now.”

Edmundo Sosa replaced him at third base in the top of the third. X-rays on Bohm’s hand were negative. Thomson said after the game that Bohm will be re-evaluated on Friday.

“He’s sore,” Thomson said. “But X-rays were negative. We’ll reassess him tomorrow.”