Braves 12, Phillies 2: An Eight-Run Fourth and Mahle's Night

Harper in the first. Then Atlanta waited for the fourth.

September 12, 2026 - Atlanta - Bryce Harper hit Tyler Mahle's pitch to center in the first inning, his 28th homer, and the Philadelphia Phillies had the lead they wanted in a bullpen game. They were one out from escaping the fourth with that lead still looking respectable. They did not escape. The Atlanta Braves scored eight in the inning and won 12-2.

Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 11 mph in from right. First pitch 7:17 p.m. Attendance 40,863. The game lasted 2 hours, 29 minutes. Friday's series opener took 11 innings and three Atlanta rallies. Saturday did not need a second plot.

The Braves are 88-61. They lead the NL East by six. The Phillies are 82-67 and have lost three straight. Jesús Luzardo was scratched with a tight shoulder, the Associated Press recap said. Philadelphia opened with Tim Mayza and hoped the night stayed small. It stayed small for three innings. Then it did not.

Mayza kept it 1-0. Raley and Holman did not.

Mayza worked three innings, two hits, no runs, no walks, four strikeouts, 31 pitches. Mahle had given up Harper's homer and nothing else. The fourth started the same way: Drake Baldwin struck out, Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a solo shot that barely cleared the wall in front of the Phillies bullpen, his 17th, and Matt Olson struck out. One out from a 1-1 inning.

Brooks Raley (5-7) then walked Ozzie Albies. Michael Harris II singled Albies to third. The Phillies called on Grant Holman for his first big-league appearance of the season, the AP recap said. Mauricio Dubón singled both home. 3-1. Austin Riley singled. Sean Murphy reached on Bryson Stott's fielding error, and Dubón scored. 4-1. Ha-Seong Kim walked. Baldwin doubled both home. 6-1. Acuña singled Baldwin in. Holman also threw a wild pitch. 8-1. Five of Atlanta's eight runs in the inning were unearned. Raley took the loss for the second straight night.

That is how a 1-0 game becomes a 8-0 hole in one sitting. Stott's error was a routine play that would have ended the inning, the AP recap said. The rest was traffic Philadelphia never cleaned up.

Mahle's seven, then Harris in the eighth

Mahle (6-10) worked seven innings, six hits, one run, no walks, three strikeouts, 97 pitches. The only run was Harper's homer. The AP recap said he is 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA in seven starts since Atlanta acquired him before the trade deadline. Saturday was the clean version of that sentence: seven innings, one mistake, no free passes.

Albies' sacrifice fly in the sixth scored Acuña. 9-1. Justin Crawford homered off Brent Suter in the eighth, his third. 9-2. Harris then hit a three-run drive to right off catcher Garrett Stubbs, his 25th, DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and Albies scoring. 12-2. Stubbs lasted 1 1/3 innings, four hits, three runs. A catcher on the mound in the eighth of a blowout is not a plan. It is what a bullpen game looks like after the fourth inning already spent the night.

Harris finished 4-for-5 with three RBI and a stolen base. Acuña went 3-for-3 with a walk, a homer, and two RBI. Baldwin doubled in two. Dubón drove in two. Albies had a double, a walk, and an RBI. Olson went 0-for-5. The Braves left seven on and still scored 12. Team RISP: 4-for-7.

Two Phillies homers, and a division gap that grew

Harper's first-inning shot and Crawford's eighth-inning homer were the entire Philadelphia offense that crossed the plate. Alec Bohm had two hits. J.T. Realmuto had two. Kyle Schwarber went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Trea Turner went 1-for-3. The Phillies left three on, hit into two double plays, and committed two errors. Team RISP: 1-for-2.

Orion Kerkering and Chase Shugart kept the fifth through seventh from getting worse. The damage was already done. Suter finished two innings and allowed Crawford's homer. Mahle did not need him.

Sunday is Grant Holmes (9-5, 3.46) against Andrew Painter (3-9, 5.71). Atlanta can sweep a first-place series that started in extras. Philadelphia has to find a starter and a fourth inning that does not turn into eight runs. Six games is a lot of ground in two weeks. A 12-2 at Truist Park is how that gap starts to look permanent.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Mahle at 18 pitching fantasy points. Harris checked in at 14 hitting FP. Acuña had 11. Albies had 5. Atlanta finished with 25 team FP, tied for second on a 15-game Saturday. Philadelphia finished at minus-9.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

Marketplace

*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*