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Pitchers stifle Braves

Aaron Harang was supposed to drive the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension on Thursday morning and pitch in Allentown. The plan called for Harang to make a rehab start with triple-A Lehigh Valley before joining the Phillies. But the team's plans were expedited.

Phillies' pitcher Aaron Harang throws the baseball.
Phillies' pitcher Aaron Harang throws the baseball.Read more(YONG KIM/Staff Photographer)

Aaron Harang was supposed to drive the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Northeast Extension on Thursday morning and pitch in Allentown. The plan called for Harang to make a rehab start with triple-A Lehigh Valley before joining the Phillies. But the team's plans were expedited.

Harang was in the majors - not the minors - Thursday. The righthander's opposition was not the triple-A Yankees, but the major-league Braves, whom he stymied for five innings in a 4-1 win. Despite no rehab start, he looked fit as he allowed one run.

Harang had been sidelined since July 1 with plantar fasciitis, which caused a stabbing pain in the bottom of his left foot. The Phillies thought the condition had affected the 37-year-old's command. Harang had not pitched past the sixth inning in his last nine starts. The pitcher allowed 14 hits in his final start before moving to the disabled list.

Harang struck out three and walked one. He threw 96 pitches, 62 for strikes. He has allowed two runs in 19 innings this season against the Braves, whom he pitched 33 games for last season.

"All of his pitches were sharp. He threw strikes," interim manager Pete Mackanin said. "He just had a higher pitch count than we liked. That's why he came out of the game. But he certainly looked like a different kind of guy than when he was pitching with a foot injury."

Elvis Araujo, Jeanmar Gomez, Luis Garcia, and Ken Giles each pitched a scoreless inning of relief to finish the win. Giles earned his second save since Jonathan Papelbon was traded Tuesday to Washington. The ballpark's radar gun clocked his first three pitches at 100 m.p.h. He struck out Adonis Garcia on a slider to end the game with runners on second and third.

"It's something special," Giles said. "This is going to top my list. First one at home. Show everyone in Philly what I got instead of just seeing it on TV."

Carlos Ruiz aided Harang's effort with a two-run single in the fourth after Harang allowed his lone run.

The game was Ruiz's 1,000th with the Phillies. The team honored him before his at-bat in the second inning. The catcher is the fifth member of the 2008 championship team to reach the milestone. He joined Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Pat Burrell, and Ryan Howard. The 1980 championship team had six members play 1,000 games.

Domonic Brown went 2 for 4. He led off the sixth with a first-pitch home run. It was Brown's first homer of the season. The outfielder is batting .429 in his last eight games and .286 this month. He could be finally turning the corner in a trying season.

@matt_breen