ATLANTA -- Brandon Beachy keeps making progress in his return from elbow ligament replacement surgery. And now that hes reintroducing the slider to his repertoire, his confidence is growing. "Im starting to work on sequences and throwing pitches -- breaking balls -- for strikes, stuff like that," Beachy said. "Hopefully keep moving in that direction." Beachy pitched six strong innings, Chris Johnson drove in three runs and Jason Heyward homered and to help the Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 on Wednesday night. The Braves, who have won two straight and 17 of 19, lead the majors with a .612 winning percentage. Philadelphia, which has lost seven of eight series since All-Star break, has dropped 19 of 23. The Phillies have lost 13 of 14 on the road. Rain delayed the start of the game 1 hour, 48 minutes. Beachy (2-0) held the Phillies scoreless until Dominic Browns 27th homer cut the lead to 5-2 with one out in the sixth. John Lannan (3-6) lasted only 1 1-3 innings -- the shortest outing in a career spanning 148 starts -- before leaving with a left knee injury. Beachy, making his fourth start since returning from surgery, allowed five hits, two runs and no walks. The right-hander struck out four, beating Philadelphia for the first time in nine career starts. Beachy has been waiting to bring back his slider, which is traditionally the last pitch to return to form after Tommy John surgery. He missed 105 games before returning July 29. "Its something that Im still going to have to work at to get the feel for it and really be confident with it," Beachy said. "Whether its effective or not, if I keep it down, its something theyre going to have to think about." Craig Kimbrel converted his 28th consecutive save opportunity and 38th in 41 chances, striking out John Mayberry Jr., retiring Carlos Ruiz on a flyout and pinch-hitter Kevin Frandsen on a groundout. Kimbrel entered the game with none out in the ninth after David Carpenter allowed a leadoff homer to Darin Ruf and walked Cody Asche. The Braves went up 2-0 in the first on Heywards leadoff homer and Johnsons sacrifice fly. Lannan escaped further damage with runners on first and third when B.J. Upton took a called third strike, but his troubles continued in the second with a one-out walk to Beachy. Heyward doubled on a liner off third baseman Asche that advanced Beachy to third, and after Justin Upton walked on five pitches, Lannans night was over. Atlanta took a 5-0 lead after the next Philadelphia pitcher, Zack Miner, gave up Freddie Freemans sacrifice fly and Johnsons two-run single. Johnson leads the NL and ranks second in the majors with a .337 batting average. "Im just trying to take the same approach every time up there," Johnson said. "Hopefully I can stay as consistent as possible that way." Lannan gave up four hits and five runs with three walks and one strikeout. Coming off a 9-2 loss last Friday at Washington in which he allowed a career high-tying eight earned runs, he is 1-5 with a 10.50 ERA in his last six road starts. "Every time I push off theres a pain in the knee," said Lannan, who will visit an orthopedist on Thursday. "Im trying to get through that and everything else is tightening up. I want to get this thing fixed. Thats what it comes down to." Philadelphia, which stranded runners in scoring position three times in the first four innings, has been outscored 85-30 over its last 15 road games. Beachy, who left for a pinch hitter in the sixth, improved to 1-3 and lowered his ERA to 3.67 in nine career starts against Philadelphia. Luis Ayala and Luis Avilan combined to allow one hit with one strikeout in the seventh and eighth for Atlanta before Rufs seventh homer made it 6-3. Heywards 11th homer gave him 12 RBIs since moving to the leadoff spot on July 27 -- a span of 18 games in which hes hit .382 and scored 20 runs. Notes: Heyward was nearly charged with his first error of the season when he ran in from right field, knocked over 2B Tyler Pastornicky and dropped Jimmy Rollins pop fly in the third. An official scoring change announced in the sixth gave Rollins a double. ... Pastornicky left before the top of the fourth with a sprained left knee. The Braves announced that he will be re-evaluated on Thursday. ... Brown has three homers in his last eight games. ... SS Andrelton Simmons, whom manager Fredi Gonzalez wanted to give the night off, took his place on the field and went 1 for 2 with one run scored. Paul Janish moved to second. ... Janish was hitless in his last 27 at-bats, dating back to Aug. 31, 2012, at home against Philadelphia, before his third-inning single. ... Three of Philadelphias eight hits were infield singles. ... Braves CF B.J. Upton went 0 for 4, lowering his batting average to .188, with one strikeout and three stranded runners. ... RF Justin Upton tied a career-high with three walks. Michael McCrary Jersey . The time off didnt slow them down. Tyler Zeller scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds, Kyrie Irving added 14 points and the Cavaliers pushed their winning streak to five games Tuesday night with a 114-85 victory over the skidding Philadelphia 76ers. Hayden Hurst Jersey . Boston is making its first appearance in the ALCS since 2008. For Detroit, its a third straight trip to the ALCS and its fourth in eight years. http://www.customravensjersey.com/custom-elvis-grbac-jersey-large-403d.html . A player confirmed to TSN on the condition of anonymity that he received his ballot yesterday. Another confirms hes been told to expect his shortly. "The unions executive committee insists a strike vote does not mean were pushing away from the table," the player said. "But we want the league to know were serious about our position. B. J. Sams Jersey . - Benched Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Josh Freeman said he has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and voluntarily entered the NFL substance abuse program more than a year ago after mistakenly taking a medication to treat the condition. Elvis Dumervil Jersey . Ho-Sang is a highly regarded prospect, as seen in TSNs Midseason Rankings. This was Game 3 of their playoff series and that wasnt the only strange incident in Londons 10-2 win over Windsor.DENVER - Patrick Roy returned to the Colorado Avalanche to restore the glory years he helped forge, and hes enjoying the ride with a young team playing at a high level. Nick Holden scored two goals, Ryan OReilly had a goal and an assist and the Avalanche rallied to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-3 on Sunday night. Semyon Varlamov stopped 31 shots and Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie also scored for the Avalanche, who have won two straight. Roy helped lead Colorado to two Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001 as the goaltender with a dynamic offence in front of him. Now as the coach, hes bringing back memories of that era. "You ask me what reminds me of the Avalanche of the past, thats the type of hockey we were playing," he said. "And thats the way were playing right now." Those championship teams also featured goal-scoring defencemen, something lacking from last years squad. Colorados blue-liners had just five goals in 48 games a year ago. The Avalanche got four goals from its defence Sunday, including Johnsons first in his return from a two-game suspension for a slash on New York Islanders centre Frans Nielsen three weeks ago. "Its tough sitting out, and to be able to come back and contribute and help the team win is fun," he said. Johnson scored the go-ahead goal at 16:05 of the third when he pinched in to steal the puck and then sent a low shot past 6-foot-7 goalie Ben Bishop from along the boards. "I know (Bishop) from St. Louis, and I shot at him a lot," Johnson said. "Hes obviously a big guy and he doesnt give you a lot of room. Sometimes, big guys like that, you throw it at their feet and they dont see it." Nate Thompson had two goals, Tom Pyatt also scored and Bishop finished with 29 saves for the Lightning, who had four penalties in the last 21:28 of the game. "The penalties killed us," centre Alex Killorn said. "Six minutes where we didnt play in their zone." Holden tied it with a power-playy goal at 5:12 of the third.dddddddddddd It was Colorados sixth power-play goal in the past three games. Holden notched his second two-goal game when he scored into an empty net with 53 seconds remaining. Paul Stastny added another with 6.3 seconds left. "This is a tough one," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Tied game with under five minutes to go. I thought we were getting points from this one. We let them slip out of our hands." Thompson has eight goals, and four of them have come in a pair of two-goal games. He got his first one Sunday when he beat Varlamov on the short side 6:40 into the second period to tie it at 2. Later in the period, he sent a wrister at Varlamov that settled in the crease, and then he skated through to knock it in at 17:37. The Lightning missed an opportunity to move into second place in the Atlantic Division and third in the Eastern Conference after Colorados late-game eruption. "I think were going through a little bit of a rough patch," Thompson said. "A couple breakdowns there at the end and they end up in the back of the net, unfortunately." Colorado stayed within three points of St. Louis in the Central Division with the win. The Blues beat Phoenix on Sunday. The game was scoreless for most of the first period despite plenty of chances. Lightning centre Vladislav Namestnikov had two of them and Colorado centre Matt Duchene was stopped on a breakaway. Tampa Bay finally cashed in when Pyatt scored at 16:49 of the first. Barrie tied it 30 seconds later with a shot between Bishops legs, and OReilly gave Colorado a 2-1 lead with his 23rd of the season 1:42 later. NOTES: Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon finished with two assists. ... Tampa Bay C Valtteri Filppula missed his fourth straight game with a non-displaced fracture in his right ankle. ... MacKinnon extended his points streak to 11 games. Its the longest streak by a rookie since Stastny had one of 20 games during the 2006-07 season. ' ' '