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Phillies Beat Braves 4-0 Behind 3-Hit Shutout From Joe Blanton

ATLANTA (AP) — Joe Blanton pitched a three-hitter for his first shutout in five years and Shane Victorino hit a two-run homer to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday.

Blanton (3-3) did not walk a batter and had six strikeouts in his third career shutout, his first since June 2, 2007 for Oakland against Minnesota.

The Braves' only hits were singles by Freddie Freeman in the first, David Ross in the fifth and Michael Bourn in the ninth. Martin Prado then lined out into a double play to end the game.

Laynce Nix had two hits, including a homer, for the Phillies.

The game, which was played in 2 hours and 2 minutes, was a dramatic reversal of the Braves' 15-13 win in 11 innings on Wednesday night when the teams combined for 36 hits.

The win allowed the Phillies to take two of three games in the first series between the NL East rivals.

Blanton, with his red socks pulled up to his knees, was dominant. He needed only 88 pitches to beat Randall Delgado. Delgado (2-3) also pitched well while allowing six hits and two runs with no walks in eight innings.

Delgado gave up a run in the first when Jimmy Rollins singled, moved to second on Juan Pierre's bunt single, advance to third on Victorino's fly out and scored on Hunter Pence's sacrifice fly.

Delgado didn't allow another run until the seventh, when Nix hit his second homer over the 400-foot sign in center.

The Phillies added two runs off Livan Hernandez in the ninth. Pierre singled and scored on Victorino's fifth homer of the season.

Blanton had a base-running blunder in the eighth. He singled to center with one out, but then took off for second on Rollins' fly ball to left field. Martin Prado quickly threw the ball to Dan Uggla, whose relay throw to first easily beat Blanton for a double play.

Notes: RHP Roy Halladay left the team after Wednesday night's game to attend to a personal family matter. He is expected to rejoin the Phillies in Washington on Friday. ... Braves C Brian McCann had a scratch on the edge of his right eye when Michael Bourn, attempting a high-five at the plate after McCann's grand slam Wednesday night, accidently hit him in the face. McCann had the eye examined Thursday morning. He said he feels some discomfort but said there is no injury. He had a scheduled day off Thursday. ... 3B Chipper Jones also had a routine day off after his game-winning homer in 11th Wednesday night. ... The Braves open a three-game series at Colorado on Friday night with RHP Tim Hudson (1-0) making his second start against RHP Guillermo Moscoso (0-1).

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