PHILADELPHIA _ By now, four seasons in, fans surely have come to accept being equal parts impressed and irritated by center fielder Odubel Herrera.
And sometimes, Odubel being Odubel really pays off.
Take the first inning Friday night. Staked to a three-run lead, Atlanta Braves starter Julio Teheran walked the first two batters on 10 pitches. The Phillies, who have seen more pitches per plate appearance than any team in the majors so far this season, were plodding their way to another rally.
So, naturally, Herrera swung at the first pitch.
Herrera lined Teheran's change-up into the right-field bleachers, the first of his two home runs in the Phillies' series-opening 7-3 victory on another chilly night at Citizens Bank Park.
Herrera took right-hander Aaron Nola off the hook for allowing three first-inning runs, then broke a 3-3 tie with a solo homer in the sixth inning against Braves reliever Max Fried, who entered in the fourth inning after Teheran exited with upper back tightness. It was Herrera's first career multi-homer game.
But Nola earned this victory, too, settling in to give the Phillies seven solid innings. And pass some credit to manager Gabe Kapler, who appears to have learned from his early-season faux pas. The same skipper who hooked Nola after only 68 pitches on Opening Day in Atlanta left his emerging ace in the game to face leadoff-hitting Ender Inciarte a fourth time with two on, two outs and the pitch count approaching 100 in the seventh inning.
Speaking of early-season miscues against the Braves, Herrera earned a large dose of redemption, too.
On April 16, in another of Nola's starts against Atlanta, Herrera neglected to slide into second base while trying to stretch a double. Braves right fielder Nick Markakis made a strong throw, Herrera got tagged out, and the Phillies wound up losing 2-1. (Their run, it should be noted, came on a Herrera homer.)
As with so many of Herrera's antics, the only way to explain it was to co-opt a phrase that once applied to the great Manny Ramirez. It was Odubel being Odubel.
So, here was Herrera, getting the Phillies back into the game after Nola's early struggle _ and, in the process, reaching base in his 27th consecutive game, the longest active streak in baseball. In the sixth inning, he fell behind in the count and sliced a two-strike pitch into the right-field bleachers for a 4-3 lead.
Jorge Alfaro, the power-hitting rookie catcher who entered the game in a 1-for-13 rut, launched a two-run homer in the seventh inning and added an RBI single in the eighth. Alfaro finished with three hits.
Facing the Braves for the third time in four weeks, Nola gave up as many runs in the first inning as he did in his previous two starts.
Trouble began, as it often does, with a leadoff walk to Ender Inciarte. Ozzie Albies followed with a bloop double before Freddy Freeman lined an RBI single to right field. Two batters later, Albies sped home on the front end of a double steal when Alfaro threw to second base in an attempt to cut down Freeman.
Braves phenom Ronald Acuna Jr. made it 3-0 with a two-out RBI double, and one night after the Phillies' bullpen had to work 62/3 innings in relief of ineffective Ben Lively, Nola needed 20 pitches to complete the first inning.
But Herrera tied the game with one swing, and Nola settled in from there. He retired 15 of 16 batters from the second inning through the sixth and was both effective and efficient, getting through those five innings in only 61 pitches.
