The Phils leave Atlanta with a series win as the bullpen this time preserves the victory as the Phils down the Braves, 8-3. The victory was the 260th in Jamie Moyer’s career, putting him in a tie for 40th place on the all-time list with Hall of Famer Ted Lyons.

The Phils took a quick 1-0 lead in the first as, with runners on the corners, and with one man out, Ryan Howard hits an RBI single, scoring Greg Dobbs, who had earlier singled, and had gone on to third on Chase Utley’s single, while sending Utley, who had earlier singled, on to third base. The Phils made it a 2-0 lead as, once again with runners on the corners, and still with one man out, Jayson Werth hit a sacrifice fly to center, knocking in Utley. The Phils would increase their lead in the third as, with the bases loaded, via a double to Dobbs, a walk to Utley and a walk to Werth, moving both Dobbs and Utley up a base, and with one man out, Raul Ibanez hits into a force attempt, scoring Dobbs, making it 3-0 Phils, as Martin Prado made a throwing error to second base, allowing Utley to score, giving the Phils a 4-0 lead, while Werth went to third on the error, while Ibanez was safe at first. The Phils made it 5-0 as Juan Castro follows with an RBI single, scoring Werth, while moving Ibanez up to second base. As the Phils were taking a commanding lead, their starter, Jamie Moyer, was keeping the Braves off-balance through the first four innings, giving up just two hits, as well as hitting a batter, while striking out two, and getting a lot of ground ball outs. The Braves would finally get on the scoreboard in the fifth as, with two men on, and with one man out, Matt Diaz hits a grounder to Castro, who then threw the ball to Utley for a force attempt at second. Utley misplayed the ball for an error, allowing Melky Cabrera, who had earlier walked, and had gone to second base on Omar Infante’s walk, to score, making it a 5-1 Phils’ lead, while Infante was safe on second base, while Diaz reached first. One batter latter, Prado hits another grounder to Castro, who this time threw out Diaz at second for the inning’s second out, but Utley then made an errant throw to first trying to double up Prado, allowing Infante to score, making it a 5-2 Phils’ lead. The Phils got one of the runs back in the sixth as, with the bases loaded, via singles to Castro and Carlos Ruiz, which sent Castro to second base, and a walk to Moyer, which moved both Castro and Ruiz up a base, Shane Victorino hits a sacrifice fly, scoring Castro, and giving the Phils a 6-2 lead. The Phils then added to their lead in the seventh as, with two men on, and with two men out, pinch hitter Ross Gload hits an RBI single, scoring Ibanez, who had earlier walked, and had moved up to second on Castro’s single, giving the Phils a 7-2 lead, while sending Castro on to third base. One batter later, the Phils made it an 8-2 lead as Victorino hits an RBI single, scoring Castro, while sending Gload on to second base. The Braves then made it 8-3 Phils’ lead in their half of the seventh as, with the bases loaded, via a double to Nate McLouth, a single to Prado, which sent McLouth over to third base, and a walk to Chipper Jones, and with one man out, Brian McCann hits a sacrifice fly, scoring McLouth. That would be the final score as David Herndon would come in and pitch a scoreless ninth.

Jamie Moyer gets the win, the 260th of his career, as he pitches six innings, giving up two unearned runs, on four hits, two walks and a hit batter, while he strikes out four. His record is now 2-1 with a 5.00 ERA. Chad Durbin pitches an inning, giving up a run on two hits and a walk, while striking out two. Danys Baez and David Herndon combined for two scoreless innings, giving up just three hits (Herndon). Derek Lowe took the lost as he pitches five innings, giving up five runs, only four of which were earned, on six hits and two walks, while striking out three. His record is now 3-1 with a 5.24 ERA. Kris Medlen pitches a third of an inning, giving up a run on two hits and a walk. Eric O’Flaherty pitches two-thirds of an inning, giving up just a walk, while striking out a batter. Peter Moylan pitches an inning, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk, while striking out two. Jesse Chavez pitches a scoreless inning, giving up only one hit, while striking out two. 

The Phils’ bats had twelve hits in the game, with Juan Castro leading the team with three hits, as he collected three singles, knocking in a run, while scoring two. Greg Dobbs and Carlos Ruiz follows by getting two hits each, with Dobbs’ hits being a single and a double, as he scores two runs, while both of Ruiz’s hits were singles. Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and pinch hitter Ross Gload had the other five Phils’ hits, all singles. Victorino knocked in two runs, one by a sac fly, Howard knocked in one, Ibanez brought home a run, and Gload scored a run with a pinch single. Jayson Werth knocked in the other Phil RBI with a sacrifice fly, while their final run came in on a throwing error.

The Phils (10-3, 1st East) continue their nine-game road trip by going to Phoenix to meet the D-backs (6-9, 5th West) for a three-game series. The game will be played at Chase Field and will start at 9:40 pm Eastern time (6:40 pm Mountain) . The Phils will send to the mound Coel Hamels (2-1, 3.86) who is coming off a lost against the Marlins on April 18, as he went eight plus strong innings, giving up only two earned runs on seven hits, while striking out eight, in the Phils’ 2-0 lost. He will be trying to build on that start, hoping to regain his 2007-08 form. The snakes will counter with Kris Benson (0-1, 3.00), who is coming off a loss to the Padres on April 17, as he went six innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits and four walks, in the D-backs’ 5-0 lost. He will be trying to keep the D-backs in the game against the Phils’ potent offense. The Phils will be trying to continue their so far successful road trip, hoping that Hamels will continue the Phils’ starting pitching current unearned runs streak.