PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nagged by injury, Roy Halladay had one of his worst starts at the worst time for the Philadelphia Phillies.
Freddie Freeman hit a three-run homer to back Mike Minor and the Atlanta Braves roughed up Halladay to move closer to clinching a postseason berth with an 8-2 victory over Philadelphia on Saturday.
The Phillies fell four games behind the Cardinals for the NL’s second wild-card spot with only 10 games remaining. The five-time defending NL East champions had won four in a row and 12 of 15 to get in the race.
“We still have a heartbeat, but we’re getting in a tough position,” manager Charlie Manuel said.
Ryan Howard became the second-fastest player to reach 300 homers, but Halladay (10-8) had.
Halladay wasn’t 100 percent.”
Halladay expects to make his next start, and said the injury isn’t a problem long-term.
“It’s definitely not structural,” he said.
The win, coupled with Milwaukee’s 10-4 loss to Washington, reduced Atlanta’s magic number for securing an NL wild-card playoff spot to three. The Braves were up 8½ games through Sept. 5 last year, but went 9-18 down the stretch and were overtaken by St. Louis on the final day of the season.
“I don’t want to hear anything about it,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said with a smile.
Minor (10-10) gave up two runs and two hits in six innings to win his fourth straight decision. The left-hander has a 1.09 ERA in four starts this month.
“It’s just experience and having a better game plan,” he said. “You put things in your memory bank.”.
“The two-out hits were really big,” Jones said. “It was a good job by our hitters to take advantage of mistakes.”.
“He didn’t have a whole lot,” Manuel said. “He had a hard time putting the ball where he wanted it. Just one of those days. Rough.