Sale Outduels Sanchez as Braves Beat Phillies

Chris Sale outdueled Cristopher Sanchez and the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-2 on Friday night in Philadelphia, stretching their NL East lead to five games, per NBC Sports and the Associated Press.

Two of the league's best lefties shared the same mound night. Sale left with the better story and the bigger division cushion.

Sale keeps Philly quiet

Sale (14-9) allowed two runs in six innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. His ERA rose slightly to 2.10 after he entered second in the NL. Sanchez (16-5) stayed stuck on 16 wins after three runs in six innings on five hits, three walks, and five strikeouts.

Atlanta scratched three runs off Sanchez in the second on Austin Riley's RBI single, Ha-Seong Kim's groundout, and Ronald Acuna's RBI double. Alec Bohm answered with an RBI double and a solo homer for both Phillies runs. Mauricio Dubon added a two-run shot in the eighth off Orion Kerkering, and Raisel Iglesias closed a 1-2-3 ninth for his 30th save.

East race, Harper streak ends

Acuna finished with three hits and an RBI as Atlanta won for the ninth time in 11 games. Philadelphia dropped just its fourth game in 19. Bryce Harper went 0-for-4 and saw his career-best 35-game on-base streak end. Bryson Stott was a late scratch for personal reasons.

The clubs open a four-game set and play seven times in the next 10. Saturday lists Martin Perez (8-8, 3.05) against Zack Wheeler (11-5, 3.31). For more September baseball already on Smacktok, see Alvarez's two-homer night and Campusano's Padres walk-off. Friday was Sale's night and a five-game East cushion.