Pérez melts down in Philly: Braves drop Game 2, lead is back to four

Friday was Chris Sale and a five-game lead. Saturday was Martín Pérez walking the park, and the Phillies took it 4-2. Atlanta is 84-58. Philadelphia is 80-62. The NL East cushion is four again, and the Dodgers (85-57) just hopped Atlanta for the league's No. 2 seed.

Pérez blamed the extra rest. Walt Weiss said he will be fine. Today's 1:10 p.m. NBC game is Tyler Mahle vs. Aaron Nola, which is the start that decides whether this four-game set is a statement or a split-in-progress.

Seven days off, 35 pitches, two runs before an out that counted

Pérez walked four of the first seven hitters. First inning: 35 pitches, 14 strikes, two runs, bases loaded, and he was lucky it was only two. Luis Arraez singled in a run. J.T. Realmuto walked in another after an ABS challenge. Bryson Stott then smoked a two-out liner that Ronald Acuña Jr. ran 51 feet to the warning track and stole at the wall.

Kyle Schwarber added an RBI groundout in the second and a solo shot in the fourth, his 41st. Pérez's line: 3 2/3 innings, seven hits, four earned, four walks. He came in 8-8 with a 3.14 ERA (2.04 since the All-Star break). He did not look like that pitcher.

Pérez, after: "I think it's just because I've been waiting for seven days, and there is nothing I can do about it because that's the plan. But I think it takes too much time for me to be on the mound to face hitters. I know my next one is going to be in five days."

Weiss: "He'll be fine. He bounces back well and he's been really good for us this year." Both things can be true. Saturday was still ugly.

Acuña and Riley, and not enough of anybody else

Acuña's leaping grab kept the first inning from becoming a laugher. Then he hit a Statcast-projected 450-foot solo shot off Zack Wheeler in the third — his 15th homer, his 28th career blast of 450-plus including playoffs, two more than anyone in baseball since 2018. The shuffle around third got him booed. Correct building for that.

Austin Riley went deep in the seventh, his 16th. That was the entire Atlanta offense: two solo homers. The Braves loaded the bases in the first and Wheeler escaped. José Alvarado turned an eighth-inning threat into a 6-4-3. Jhoan Duran got Ozzie Albies to ground out for his 30th save.

Wheeler punched out nine, his most since July 21 against the Dodgers. The Phillies had lost four of 19. Make it four of 20. Atlanta had won nine of 11. Make it nine of 12.

The rotation math just got loud

Weiss said Reynaldo López will join the rotation when he comes off the IL this week after five scoreless, 93-pitch rehab innings at Gwinnett. Grant Holmes, not Bryce Elder, gets Monday's series finale against Jesús Luzardo. Pérez expects to start Thursday against Tampa Bay on normal rest. AJ Smith-Shawver is the one who might get bumped to the bullpen.

Weiss: "At some point, we'll have to make a decision there. You just can't keep adding guys in the rotation." Pérez's extra-rest complaint is the same decision from the other side. Sale can pitch once a week. Not everybody can.

Mahle is 2-1 with a 1.48 ERA in five Atlanta starts (five earned in 30 1/3 innings, 32 strikeouts, five walks). Season line with the Giants mixed in: 5-10, 4.25. MLB.com flagged the 4.42 expected ERA under the pretty Atlanta number. Nola is 6-10, 4.93, but he posted a 2.65 ERA over six August starts and has allowed two or fewer in five straight. He has also allowed 32 homers in 28 starts. Atlanta should make him throw strikes over the heart.

Mahle faced these Phillies twice with San Francisco in April: five earned in 10 2/3. Nola's last look at the Braves was April 26: six runs in 4 2/3. That was a different Philadelphia club. Don Mattingly's version just took Game 2.

Bird Gang bottom line

Sale gave you the lead. Pérez gave it back. Four games is still a real cushion, and it is not eight. Mahle vs. Nola on national TV this afternoon is the swing game. Win it, and Monday is a chance to leave town up five. Lose it, and this series is what the Phillies thought August bought them — a fight, not a coronation.

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