Sale outduels Sánchez, Braves beat Phillies 5-2 and extend lead to 5 games in NL East

Published Sep. 4, 2026 9:26 p.m. ET

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Atlanta’s Chris Sale outdueled Cristopher Sanchez in a matchup of two of baseball’s best pitchers, and the Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 on Friday night to extend their lead in the NL East to five games.

Ronald Acuna had three hits and drove in a run and Mauricio Dubon homered for the Braves, who won for the ninth time in 11 games.

Alec Bohm homered and doubled and drove in both runs for the Phillies, who lost for just the fourth time in 19 games.

Sale (14-9) allowed two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts and a walk. He entered second in the NL in ERA, which rose slightly to 2.10.

Sánchez (16-5) remained stuck on 16 victories after surrendering three runs in six innings. He allowed five hits and three walks with five strikeouts.

Atlanta scored three of its runs off Sánchez in the second inning on Austin Riley’s RBI single, Ha-Seong Kim’s groundout, and Acuña’s RBI double.

The Phillies got a run back in the bottom of the inning on Bohm’s RBI double and pulled within 3-2 in the fourth on his one-out solo drive to left.

Philadelphia had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the fifth and sixth innings, but could not score off Sale.

After Dubón hit a two-run shot in the eighth off Orion Kerkering, Raisel Iglesias pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 30th save.

The teams were meeting for the first time since April 26, when struggling Philadelphia dropped to 9-19 and fired manager Rob Thomson. Since, the two-time defending NL East champion Phillies have gone 70-43 under interim manager Don Mattingly.

Friday’s matchup was the opener of a four-game series and the first of seven games in the next 10 between the clubs.

Bryce Harper went 0 for 4 and had his career-best 35-game on-base streak halted.

Philadelphia second baseman Bryson Stott was a late scratch from the lineup due to personal reasons.