Phillies walkoff, sweep?Braves

Pinch-hitter lifts Philly to 3-2 win, 10?-game lead in NL East; Utley out at least 2 games with possible concussion

By ROB MAADDI

updated 10:25 p.m. ET Sept. 7, 2011

PHILADELPHIA - Ross Gload rounded first base and stopped before a mob of teammates swarmed him. Gload has struggled lately, so the playful punches were most welcome.

Gload hit a pinch RBI single with one out in the bottom of the ninth and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep and extend their lead to 10? games in the NL East.

"For me, it's huge because I haven't had many," said Gload, who was 4 for 33 before the at-bat. "I'll take it. It's big for me, bigger for the team."

The major league-leading Phillies (91-48) reduced their magic number to 12 for clinching their fifth straight division title. They are 43 games above .500 for the first time in franchise history.

Second-place Atlanta still should reach the postseason barring a late collapse. The Braves entered 7? games ahead of St. Louis and San Francisco in the wild-card race.

"Right now, they're just playing really good baseball and we're not scoring any runs," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It's just not happening for us right now."

It may be a costly win for the Phillies because five-time All-Star Chase Utley left the game for precautionary reasons for a possible concussion, two innings after he was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Eric O'Flaherty.

"He had headaches," manager Charlie Manuel said. "He was OK until he went out to the field and started to have headaches."

General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said Utley has to see the team doctor and won't play for at least the next two games in Milwaukee.

"We think it's pretty mild," Amaro said.

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Raul Ibanez drew a one-out walk off Peter Moylan (1-1) in the ninth. Carlos Ruiz followed with a single to left. Gload then ripped a hard grounder down the right-field line to score Ibanez.

Ryan Madson (4-2) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win after Roy Oswalt tossed seven strong innings.

The Phillies are cruising toward October in a season when only a World Series title would be considered a success. They need 11 wins in the last 23 games to set a single-season franchise record.

Down 2-1, the Phillies rallied against All-Star Jonny Venters in the eighth. Pinch-hitter John Mayberry Jr. led off with a single. He moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on Placido Polanco's two-out single to right.

Oswalt took a no-hitter into the sixth. He gave up two runs and four hits. The righty had seven strikeouts and a season-high four walks.

Braves starter Brandon Beachy allowed one run and two hits, striking out seven in 5 2-3 innings.

The Braves took their first lead of the series on pinch-hitter Freddie Freeman's bad-hop RBI single in the seventh. Jason Heyward led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice. Freeman followed with a grounder up the middle that hit the grass cutout and took a high hop over second baseman Utley's head.

Oswalt didn't allow a hit until Michael Bourn led off the sixth with a double to left-center. One out later, Bourn scored on Chipper Jones' single up the middle to tie it at 1.

Ibanez gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead when he ripped one out to deep right-center for his 18th homer and 250th in his career.

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Phillies walkoff, sweep?Braves

Pinch-hitter Ross Gload hit an RBI single with one out in the bottom of the ninth and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 Wednesday night to complete a three-game sweep and extend their lead to 10? games in the NL East.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44434519/ns/sports-baseball/

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