Spencer Strider struck out 11 batters and Ronald Acuna Jr. hit two home runs to help the Atlanta Braves end their four-game losing streak with a 9-3 win over the visiting Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.

Atlanta (97-54) avoided what would have been its first five-game losing streak since September 2017. Philadelphia (82-69) dropped to 4-8 against the Braves this season.

Strider (18-5) pitched seven innings and allowed three runs — all coming on Bryce Harper’s 19th home run in the sixth — on four hits and no walks. He improved his career record against Philadelphia to 8-0 with a 1.90 ERA.

Strider passed Hall of Famer Phil Niekro for the second-most strikeouts in a season by a Braves pitcher in the modern era (since 1900). Strider has fanned 270 batters in 176 innings. Niekro had 262 strikeouts in 330 1/3 innings in 1977. John Smoltz owns the team’s single-season record with 276 in 253 2/3 innings in 1996.

Acuna, on “Ronald Acuna Bat Flip Bobblehead Night,” went 3-for-5 with his 38th and 39th homers, his fourth multi-homer game of the season.

Acuna’s first homer came on the first pitch of the first inning from Cristopher Sanchez. It was the 33rd leadoff home run of Acuna’s career, his seventh of the season. It was the 13th time he socked a leadoff homer on the first pitch, the third time this year.

Acuna added another solo homer to open the sixth inning, leaving him one home run shy of becoming the fifth player with 40 homers and 40 steals in the same season. It also accounted for his 100th RBI. Acuna also has 67 stolen bases. He is on the verge of becoming the first player to collect 40-plus homers and 50-plus steals in a season.

Sanchez (2-5) pitched four innings and allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk. He struck out two.

The Braves got a two-run single in the fourth inning from Kevin Pillar. They broke the game open in the fifth with a four-run outburst produced by a bases-loaded walk to Matt Olson, a two-run double from Marcell Ozuna and a sacrifice fly from Orlando Arcia. Ozuna went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

–Field Level Media

Pinch hitter Joey Meneses belted a go-ahead, three-run homer in the seventh inning to lift the Washington Nationals past the visiting Chicago White Sox 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Down 3-1, Washington put runners on first and third with one out in the seventh against reliever Aaron Bummer (4-5). After Bummer fanned Drew Millas, Bryan Shaw took over on the mound and Meneses greeted him by hitting his 12th homer of the season.

The Nationals (67-85) won for the second time in their past eight games.

Luis Robert Jr. and Yoan Moncada homered for the White Sox (58-94), who took their sixth loss in eight games.

Chicago trailed 4-2 before rallying in the ninth against Kyle Finnegan, with Robert’s leadoff double and Moncada’s one-out single producing a run. The game ended with two runners on base, as Elvis Andrus lined out to right to seal Finnegan’s 26th save.

White Sox starter Jose Urena pitched six strong innings and was in line to notch his first victory since August 2022, when he was pitching for the Colorado Rockies. Urena, who is 0-6 combined with the Rockies and the White Sox this year, held the Nationals to one run and four hits while striking out four without a walk.

Nationals right-hander Jackson Rutledge made his second career major league appearance, and this one went much better. He yielded only six hits, though two of those were homers, and two runs in 6 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out two. In his debut last Wednesday at Pittsburgh, Rutledge yielded seven runs on 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Moncada broke a 1-1 tie with his ninth home run of the season on Rutledge’s first pitch of the inning.

Robert Garcia (2-2) got the win after retiring both batters he faced to complete the top of the seventh.

Robert, who went 3-for-4, hit his 37th home run of the season in the fourth inning for a 1-0 Chicago lead. He had gone his first 12 September games without a long ball before hitting one out Monday as the White Sox won the opener of the three-game series 6-1.

Washington tied the game in the sixth when Jacob Young led off with a triple and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly from Lane Thomas.

–Field Level Media