Braves deliver fireworks on the Fourth of July as they defeat the Phillies, 9-5

There were plenty of fireworks on display around the city of Atlanta tonight, but most of them happened at Turner Field. The Braves scored four runs in the first and fourth inning, and those offensive explosions were enough to carry the Braves to a 9-5 victory over the Phillies.

Atlanta wasted no time getting on the board, as they scored three runs before the Phillies were able to pick up their first out of the game. Kelly Johnson hit a two-run single with the bases loaded, then Juan Uribe brought in another run with another single. The Phillies finally got an out, but the Braves scored another run thanks to a force-out at second base. Although the offense didn't put up another run in the first inning, Cameron Maybin added onto the tally with a solo homer.

The Phillies made it onto the board in the third inning thanks to an RBI single from Cesar Hernandez, but the Braves struck back in a major way in the bottom half of the next inning. Cameron Maybin continued his good night by bringing home Alex Wood for the Braves' fifth run of the game. Nick Markakis nearly sent the baseball world into a tizzy when he hit a ball that seemed like it was going out. Unfortunately, it was only a double, but you can't really complain about two more runs for the Braves, now can you? Kelly Johnson proceeded to bring him home with a line drive, and by the time the damage was done, the Braves were up by eight with the score being 9-1.

Darin Ruf put the Phillies back into the game with a three-run shot in the next inning. They also added another solo shot (from Odubel Herrera) in the eighth inning, but it wasn't nearly enough to catch the Braves tonight. The game ended 9-5 in favor of the Braves, and just like that, Atlanta's on a 4-game winning streak.

Alex Wood pitched six innings tonight, and while this won't go down as his sharpest performance, he still did a decent job of making sure that the Phillies didn't completely erode the Braves' massive lead. That's about as much as you can ask for when your team gets a huge lead early on: Just make sure that the lead stays intact in some way, shape, or form.

Now, the Braves have a shot at getting a sweep tomorrow. Of course, it'll be tough with Cole Hamels on the mound, but with security like what you see below, I'm sure that the Braves will be up for the task of bringing the brooms out tomorrow.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Meet Jonny Gomes and his &quot;security detail&quot;. <a href="http://t.co/sV6Zcr8A2L">pic.twitter.com/sV6Zcr8A2L</a></p>&mdash; Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href="https://twitter.com/Braves/status/617519195685679104">July 5, 2015</a></blockquote>

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Happy Independence Day, everyone. Hopefully it was already good before, and this Braves victory was just the icing on the cake for you.

<iframe src="http://www.fangraphs.com/graphframe.aspx?config=0&static=1076844&type=livewins&num=0&h=450&w=450&date=2015-07-04&team=Braves&dh=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" height="450" width = "450" style="border:1px solid black;"></iframe><br /><span style="font-size:9pt;">Source: <a href="http://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2015-07-04&team=Braves&dh=0&season=2015">FanGraphs</a></span>