Phillies cap tough homestand with 4-2 loss to Braves

Scott Lauber, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Apr 19, 2026

Published in Baseball

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PHILADELPHIA — Andrew Painter sat on a bench in the dugout in the fifth inning and stared straight ahead as another lead — and another game — vanished into the South Philly night.

Want to get away?

The Phillies surely did. So, after a 4-2 loss Sunday night that capped a 2-7 homestand and left them five games under .500 for the first time since June 2023, they piled onto a Delta charter (Southwest, with its “Wanna Get Away” slogan, would’ve been apropos) to Chicago.

But not before the fans showered them with boos.

It has become a familiar chorus — and not only over the weekend, when the Phillies (8-13) were swept by the Atlanta Braves in a three-game series at home for the first time since 2016.

The Phillies have dropped four of five series in Citizens Bank Park after losing only three home series all of last season. The last time they won only once in their first five series at home was 2013.

Another pattern that is growing familiar: empty innings.

Kyle Schwarber staked the Phillies to a 2-0 lead with a first-inning homer. They didn’t score again. They barely even rallied until the ninth inning. With two on and two out, the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. ran down Schwarber’s two-out drive toward the right-field corner.

Otherwise, the Phillies had one other threat. But Braves third baseman Austin Riley snuffed out a two-on, two-out chance in the fifth inning with a backhand play on Bryce Harper’s chopper.

The Braves overcame a 2-1 deficit with three runs in the fifth inning against Painter and lefty reliever Tim Mayza.

After Painter gave up back-to-back singles to Michael Harris II and Acuña, Mayza came on and walked Drake Baldwin. Matt Olson drove in the tying run on a fielder’s choice before Riley knocked in the go-ahead run by beating out a chopper in front of Alec Bohm at third base.

Ozzie Albies followed with an RBI double to make it 4-2.

The game started amid a rain shower and 13-mph gusts that whipped the flags but scarcely affected Painter, who retired the side on 16 pitches.

And once the rain stopped, Schwarber brought thunder.

Schwarber hit his team-leading seventh homer, a two-run shot against Braves starter Grant Holmes. The ball hit off the hands of a fan hanging over the front row of the bleachers in right field. A replay review confirmed that the fan didn’t interfere before it cleared the wall.

But the offense went missing after that, and the Phillies lost again at home, two familiar patterns through the first three weeks of the season.