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ATLANTA — Luis Arraez went after a first-pitch slider, and popped it straight up.

Braves third baseman Austin Riley settled underneath it, making the catch for the second out of the eighth inning for another potential wasted opportunity for the Phillies. They were on the verge of stranding another pair of runners in scoring position against Atlanta on Sunday.

The Phillies had already squandered leadoff doubles from J.T. Realmuto in the fifth and Bryce Harper in the sixth. Now it looked like Kyle Schwarber’s single and Harper’s second double of the day were also going to be for naught.

But Alec Bohm changed the Phillies’ fortunes, and the tide of the game, with one swing. He smacked a fastball left over the middle of the plate to the center-field wall for a bases-clearing double and put the Phillies back in front.

From there, the floodgates opened, and the offense strung together six two-out hits and a walk in a 9-4 victory over the Braves.

“If we keep finding ourselves in spots like that, we’re all going to trust ourselves that we’re going to get that job done,” Schwarber said. “Guys just kept piling on the hits, piling on the good at-bats, and that’s what we’re going to rely on.”

The eighth-inning outburst was a catharsis for a Phillies offense stuck in neutral for the first two losses of the series. They sent 12 men to the plate, while the Braves used three relief arms. Before Bailey Falter finally ended it by striking out Harper, Schwarber had already hit his second single of the frame.

“Had some chances early and weren’t able to tack on, but finally to get to break through and put some runs up was huge, obviously, for us,” said interim manager Don Mattingly.

Realmuto had a three-hit day, giving the Phillies an early 2-1 lead with a two-run homer off Braves starter Grant Holmes in the second inning. He knocked an elevated fastball into the left-field seats, and later put a good swing on a changeup below the zone for a double.

“J.T.’s homer really was big,” Mattingly said. “Them getting on the board early, and then us being able to get the lead, and the game stayed there for a while. J.T. had a big day today.”

Realmuto’s homer helped out his batterymate Andrew Painter, who had surrendered another first-inning run. The right-hander has a 9.00 ERA in the first inning this season. This time, it came on a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly.

That proved to be the only run he allowed over five innings and 87 pitches, although many of those pitches were in high-pressure situations. Painter allowed a lot of traffic, scattering six hits and issuing four walks, but he managed to grind through it and get outs when needed.

“Walk away with the win there, and try to build on it,” Painter said. “See what went wrong, what we want to work on. But I mean, the four walks just can’t happen.”

Painter was yanking his fastball, and consistently missing with his changeup arm-side. He said he thought the issue might be mechanical, possibly from tilting his shoulders too much, but will dig in further with the Phillies staff before his next start.

While he did not have his best stuff or command overall, the Phillies could take positives from how Painter battled.

“It kind of shows his character, from the standpoint of just keep turning the page, keep going, keep fighting,” Mattingly said. “Today was a perfect example of that.”

Arraez made a few diving stops at second base, once to help out Painter in a big spot in the fourth inning and again to propel Alex McFarlane to a clean sixth. Mattingly said he was especially impressed with McFarlane’s battle with Mike Yastrzemski. The Braves outfielder went up 3-0 against him at first, but McFarlane fought back to a full count.

Yastrzemski then fouled off three more pitches, before McFarlane froze him on a slider for the strikeout. Since surrendering a game-tying home run to Ronald Acuña Jr. last week, the rookie right-hander has had three scoreless appearances.

“After a long at-bat, be able to do that and not have to just pump heaters,” Mattingly said, “that’s a good sign.”

The Phillies’ bullpen faltered yet again in the seventh when José Alvarado coughed up the one-run lead. A bloop single from Michael Harris II to lead off the inning turned into the tying run after a wild pitch and another single.

But after the Phillies pulled back ahead by a comfortable margin following the big eighth, they were able to leave the rest of their high-leverage arms on the shelf.

Tanner Banks pitched the final two innings for his first major league action since July 8. In the ninth, he gave up an infield single followed by a homer from Matt Olson, as the Braves started to put together a rally of their own.

But a foul pop ended it, and the Phillies managed to salvage the final game of the series.

“You want to win series, and you want to feel like you’re doing what you need to do to keep putting yourself in the position to get in October,” Schwarber said. “But I think that there are things that we can look at, positive and negative, right? Learn from those, take it forward into these next series, and keep pushing.”

NL wild-card standings

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They missed an opportunity this weekend to keep up in the divisional race. But with the help of the Cubs’ loss to the Pirates on Sunday, the Phillies head into Sunday’s off day once again tied with Chicago in the wild-card race with 12 games remaining. The Cubs hold the tiebreaker, however.

“It’s just day to day,” Mattingly said. “At this point, you got to try to win a game every day and just keep fighting. Get yourself to the finish line.”

ATLANTA — The beleaguered Phillies bullpen got a reinforcement on Sunday.

The club activated lefty Tanner Banks from the 60-day injured list, reinstating him from his rehab assignment. In a corresponding move, they optioned right-hander Grant Holman to triple-A Lehigh Valley. Minor league outfielder Christian Cairo was designated for assignment to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for Banks.

Banks has not appeared in a major league game since July 8, after which he was shut down with a left forearm strain. He made five rehab appearances for the IronPigs, allowing three hits and one earned run over nine innings. Banks recorded 14 strikeouts and one walk.

Prior to the injury, he had been inconsistent. Banks had worked his way into higher-leverage opportunities in a career year in 2025, but slipped down the depth chart and was even optioned at one point after extended struggles this season. Banks has a 7.14 ERA in the majors in 2026.

When Banks first landed on the injured list in July, interim manager Don Mattingly said the forearm had been bothering him for a while and theorized it could have been a contributor to his struggles.

Now that he’s back, the Phillies plan to use him in a different role. Mattingly said that Banks is stretched out to 45 pitches and is expected to be a multi-inning option. In the first half of the 2026 season, he rarely pitched more than one inning.

Adding a bulk arm could be helpful for a relief unit that has been taxed yet again this week. The Phillies used five bullpen arms in the series opener against Atlanta, an 11-inning loss, and then were forced to go with a bullpen game on Saturday after Jesús Luzardo was scratched from his start with shoulder stiffness.

The lopsided 12-2 final score did help save an arm or two as backup catcher Garrett Stubbs wound up securing the final four outs. But the Phillies still used five other pitchers.

That included Holman, who Banks replaced on the 28-man roster. The right-hander needed 34 pitches to record one out after an error from Bryson Stott extended the fourth inning and snowballed into five unearned runs.

Cortes update

Nestor Cortes pitched one inning for triple-A Lehigh Valley on Monday, allowing one earned run on a bunt single followed by two groundouts. Cortes’ fastball topped out at 91.6 mph.

It marked Cortes’ second outing since the Phillies signed him to a major league deal as pitching depth on Aug. 19, and his first at the triple-A level. The 31-year-old missed most of the 2026 season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left bicep in October.

“Still progressing, and sounds like he’s doing OK,” Mattingly said.

He added that there are no expectations necessarily for Cortes to join the major league club before the end of the season. It would hinge on whether Cortes is able to get ready and the needs of the team.

Extra bases

Luzardo is not throwing on Sunday or Monday after skipping his scheduled start on Saturday for extra rest. The Phillies will reevaluate him Tuesday. … After Monday’s off day, the Phillies play a two-game set in Washington. Cristopher Sánchez (17-5, 2.79 ERA) will start the series opener against Nationals left-hander Jackson Kent (1-4, 6.59).