Braves take advantage of a rare Seranthony Domínguez meltdown and pile on the Phillies

ATLANTA — Facing the reigning World Series champion Braves in their home ballpark never was going to be easy, and for the first seven innings of Friday’s game, the Phillies played a pesky brand of baseball, one that seemed to be working. Then came the eighth, when their one-run lead turned into a 7-2 loss Friday night.

Serthony Domínguez — who has been the Phillies’ most dominant closer all season — entered the game following a 1-2-3 seventh inning by José Alvarado, who came on after Ranger Suarez’s six innings of two-hit ball. Domínguez promptly gave up a season-high five earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. It was the first time he had given up more than two earned runs since April 19 in Colorado. He walked pinch hitter Eddie Rosario to open the inning, then Ronald Acuña Jr. homered to give the Braves a 3-2 lead, and the rout was on.

“He was just spraying the ball a little bit,” interim manager Rob Thomson said of Domínguez, whose 28 pitches included just 13 strikes. “His velocity was good. But you can’t walk the leadoff hitter, that’s the old saying, right? It just got away from us.”

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Unable to finish the inning, Domínguez exited for Nick Nelson, who allowed two hits and another earned run to give the Braves a six-run eighth inning. To make matters worse, the Phillies outfielders botched a routine fly ball from Ozzie Albies that would have ended the inning. Instead, it scored two runs. It was an ugly sequence of events.

It was a stark turnaround from what they had been doing earlier in the game. They worked Braves starter Max Fried to 110 pitches through six innings. The lefty gave up three walks for the month of August but allowed three walks against the Phillies. In the fourth inning, Kyle Schwarber worked a 10-pitch at-bat that ended in a line-drive home run, his career-high 39th of the season.

After William Contreras tied it up with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth, Jean Segura responded with a solo home run of his own an inning later.

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Yairo Muñoz, who was recalled from triple A hours earlier, beat out an infield single on a grounder to short in the fifth inning. Right fielder Dalton Guthrie, who now has five games’ worth of big-league experience, ran 124 feet in the bottom of the fifth inning to make a sliding grab in foul territory that Thomson called “unbelievable.”

But the most vivid takeaway, for most, will be of Domínguez, a pitcher who has been remarkably reliable up to this point, showing some vulnerability. Thomson mused that what we saw from Domínguez on Friday could be rust, since he was activated off the 15-day injured list just five days ago. But Domínguez said he after the game that he feels “100%” physically, and doesn’t lend much credence to that theory.

“I wasn’t executing my pitches, and when I needed to throw a quality pitch, I couldn’t do it,” he said through a translator. “My first-pitch strikes were not there tonight. And I was falling behind in the count.”

Bryce Harper fouled a ball off of his left knee in the top of the fourth inning. He remained in the game but was looked at by trainers after he was hit. Harper came off the injured list on Aug. 26. Thomson said after the game that Harper was fine.

Suárez went six innings, allowing one run (Contreras’ solo shot), with three walks and four strikeouts. He threw 91 pitches and 55 strikes. It was the first outing in which Suárez allowed one or fewer earned runs since Aug. 17 in Cincinnati. That it came against the Braves, a team that collectively has a .762 OPS — good for second-best in baseball — is even more impressive.

“I didn’t think much of [who I was facing],” he said. “I just wanted to attack hitters early and get out of the inning as quickly as possible. That’s what I try to do in every outing.”