López (10 K's), Ozuna (37th HR) lead Braves past first-place Phils

ATLANTA -- Actions speak louder than words. That’s why Braves manager Brian Snitker was feeling pretty good after his injury-depleted team continued to show resolve during a 3-1 win over the Phillies on Tuesday night at Truist Park.

“We kind of started the game with a little bit of downer, with Austin [Riley’s] situation and seeing him in a cast,” Snitker said. “With these guys -- good, bad or ugly -- nothing fazes them. They all go out and they play. It all starts with that guy on the mound.”

That guy, on this night, was Reynaldo López, who notched 10 strikeouts while limiting the Phillies to one run over five innings. The 30-year-old hurler didn’t show any rust while making his first MLB start since exiting his July 28 outing against the Mets with right forearm tightness. Instead, he looked much like he had while earning his first career All-Star selection this year.

López certainly seemed to have benefited from the rest over the past three weeks. His fastball averaged 96.4 mph, up from his season average of 95.4 mph. Plus, the Phillies whiffed on 15 of their 21 swings against his secondary pitches. They missed on eight of their 12 swings vs. his slider, five of seven vs. his curveball and both swing attempts against his changeup.

“I didn’t expect things to go as well as they did,” López said through an interpreter. “I would say, at the end of the day, the team won and I feel good.”

This wasn’t a must-win game. But this was certainly a day the Braves needed an emotional boost. Their long list of injury woes grew on Monday, when they learned Riley will miss the remainder of the regular season with a fractured right hand.

Riley could return at some point during the postseason, but the Braves (67-58) now need to find a way to get there without him. They are 2 1/2 games ahead of the Mets (65-61) in the battle for the National League’s final Wild Card spot. And a seventh straight NL East title still remains a possibility as Atlanta moved to within six games of the first-place Phillies (73-52).

“Our mindset is today,” Snitker said. “That’s the only thing we can worry about is today. Tomorrow, the game at hand, is going to be the biggest game we play.”

A lineup that lost reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. to a season-ending injury on May 26 has consistently leaned on Marcell Ozuna, who backed López’s successful return by hitting what proved to be the game-winning homer off Zack Wheeler to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Ozuna is tied for third in the Majors with 37 homers, behind Aaron Judge (45) and Shohei Ohtani (39). Ozuna is three home runs shy away from becoming the first Braves player with consecutive 40-homer seasons since Andruw Jones in 2005-06.

Atlanta’s lineup on Tuesday included three players who were released by other teams this year. Gio Urshela was released by Detroit on Sunday before signing with the Braves on Tuesday to serve as Riley’s replacement at third base. He drew a bases-loaded walk off José Alvarado to provide an insurance run in the eighth.

Ramón Laureano was released by the Guardians on May 25 before signing with the Braves four days later. He made back-to-back sliding catches to end the game. Then, there was Whit Merrifield, who tallied a pair of extra-base hits -- including a triple that led to a run on Michael Harris II's RBI single in the third -- while playing against the Phillies for the first time since they released him on July 12.

“You play the best you can every night, and a lot of times, it’s not your night,” Merrifield said. “But to contribute and play well against the team that told you that you weren’t good enough to play for them, it feels good.”

Bryce Harper, who struck out in each of his three at-bats against López, had a perfect response when asked about Merrifield, who signed a one-year, $8 million deal with Philadelphia on Feb. 19.

“Yeah, he’ll probably get nine hits this series,” Harper said. “It’s just how baseball kind of works.”

Atlanta realized the unpredictable nature of the sport each of the past two years, when it tallied 101 wins in 2022 and 104 wins in '23, only to lose to Philadelphia in the NL Division Series.

If the Braves reach the postseason again, their greatest strength will be the rotation, which is whole for the first time since Chris Sale, Max Fried and López earned All-Star selections. Those three would make a formidable trio in any playoff series.

“We go out with conviction to win every game out there," López said. "And we’ll play for as long as we can and go as deep as we can."