Where do Braves stand after splitting 4-game set with Phillies?

PHILADELPHIA -- The Braves fumbled their chance to nearly put the National League East race out of reach. But even with the 1-0 loss suffered on Monday afternoon, they still exited Philadelphia feeling good about what transpired during this four-game series against the Phillies.

“It would have been great to take three out of four, but, winning that game yesterday, that was a pivotal win,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “You want to win the series, but all things considered, not a bad outcome.”

After claiming an emotional comeback win highlighted by Ronald Acuña Jr.’s game-tying homer on Sunday, they simply didn’t have an answer for Jesús Luzardo in the series finale. Luzardo recorded 12 strikeouts and allowed just two hits while notching his first career shutout. The lefty received the one run he needed when Kyle Schwarber hit a two-out homer off Didier Fuentes in the eighth.

“With the environment here and the kind of cooler weather, it felt like we were getting near the end of the season and playoff time,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “It was a fun series. It would have been nice to come out on top, but it was a couple good teams going at it.”

Where they stand

By splitting this four-game set, the Braves left town with the same four-game lead they had when they arrived. But the second-place Phillies now have just 18 games remaining to erase this deficit.

The Braves also secured the season series with Sunday’s victory. So, if the two teams end with identical records, Atlanta will win the NL East via tiebreaker.

What’s next?

The Braves and Phillies will wrap their season series with a three-game series that begins Friday at Truist Park. Atlanta will start Chris Sale in the series opener. Tyler Mahle could serve as their starter Saturday and Grant Holmes now seems like a strong candidate for the series finale.

The Phillies will likely counter with Aaron Nola (Friday), Luzardo (Saturday) and Andrew Painter (Sunday). The good news is Atlanta likely won’t have to face Zack Wheeler or Cristopher Sánchez, both of whom will start during this week’s three-game series against the Astros.

What did the Braves take away from this series?

1) Part of the job: Fuentes retired the first 11 batters he faced in this series. But the 21-year-old hurler’s bid to throw two scoreless for the second time in four days ended when Schwarber drilled a middle-middle, 2-2 fastball into the right-field seats. The Phillies slugger’s 43rd homer of the season ended the Braves reliever’s 10-inning scoreless streak.

“[Fuentes] has been one of our best,” Weiss said. “He’s been awesome. He’s going to be in a lot more high-leverage situations.”

Speaking of high-leverage, Dylan Lee halted his recent woes with a scoreless inning in Sunday’s win. If Lee has righted himself and Robert Suarez gets healthy, they will team with Fuentes and Raisel Iglesias to give the Braves one of the game’s top bullpen foursomes.

2) Lessening rotation concerns: Sale did his thing on Friday, limiting the Phillies to a pair of runs over six innings. More importantly, Mahle and Holmes looked like playoff-caliber starters in their respective outings this weekend.

Mahle didn’t allow an earned run over six innings on Sunday and now has a 1.24 ERA through his first six starts for Atlanta. Holmes struggled to command his two-seamer in Monday’s first inning, but he regrouped and threw six scoreless innings. He has completed at least six innings in four of his past six starts that haven’t been halted by rain.

“Grant's been a really good starter for us for a while now,” Weiss said. “Today his stuff was as good as I've seen in a while.”

Mahle seems like a solid choice to be the Braves’ Game 2 starter in a postseason series. If AJ Smith-Shawver shows signs of improvement against the Rays on Tuesday, he and Holmes would seemingly be next in line for a potential postseason start.

3) Conquering a hostile environment: Lasting memories of this series will focus on the second of the two Acuña homers that irked Phillies fans. That would be the game-tying homer he hit against Alex McFarlane’s 100.5 mph fastball to tie the game in Sunday’s eighth inning. He took his time rounding the bases and then playfully stepped to the top of the dugout for a curtain call.

“There’s a lot more theater now than there used to be,” Weiss said. “But look, Ronald, that's just who he is. He's a great kid and he loves to play. He plays with a lot of joy. So that stuff just comes out.”

Acuña was limited to a ninth-inning walk on Monday. But while going 17-for-37 (.459) with three doubles and three homers over his past 10 games, he’s had a lot of opportunities to exude his joy.