LDN - Sports

Nola pitches lowly Phillies past Cardinals

[June 23, 2017] PHILADELPHIA -- For the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday afternoon provided a shot at a series sweep and a chance to make up ground in the National League Central Division race. Meanwhile, it was an opportunity for the Philadelphia Phillies to get a break from the life of being the major league's worst team.

Phillies starter Aaron Nola provided the reprieve for the struggling ballclub and put together one of his best pitching efforts of the season. He struck out a season-high eight batters and allowed just one run in 7 1/3 innings to help lift Philadelphia to a 5-1 win and snap the team's five-game losing streak.

Thursday's performance gave Nola, the team's 2014 first-round pick out of LSU, some much-needed confidence in a career that has been marked by equal parts potential and inconsistency. The righty improved to 4-5 with a 4.32 ERA with the win, and he is 15-16 with a 4.39 ERA in his career.

"I know what I'm capable of and I know what I can do," Nola said, "and today was me. I felt confident in all my pitches today and commanding all my pitches when I wanted to. It was all good in those areas."

Nola tied his season high of seven strikeouts before the game reached the seventh inning and cruised through the first seven innings, allowing just three hits and one walk.

After allowing a leadoff home run to Paul DeJong on a 2-2 pitch in the top of the eighth, Nola fanned pinch hitter Greg Garcia for his eighth strikeout. He left in favor of reliever Pat Neshek one batter later after walking Matt Carpenter.

Neshek got the Phillies (23-48) out of any potential damage by getting Tommy Pham to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. Luis Garcia pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game.

Phillies manager Pete Mackanin, whose team blew a five-run lead and eventually dropped a 7-6 extra-inning game to the Cardinals Wednesday night, was encouraged by what he saw of Nola.

"He had a lot of success early when he first got here and went through a period where he was struggling to find himself in the last outing and this outing," Mackanin said, "especially in this one. That looked like the old Nola that we saw, and that's great to see. I was ecstatic."

Said DeJong: "He was locating his fastball really well, hitting those corners and throwing breaking balls for strikes and off to kind of fool you."

DeJong, who was called up by the Cardinals back on May 28 and homered in his first career at bat, went 1-for-3 Thursday and is hitting .265 with four homers and 10 RBIs.

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Phillies starting pitcher Aaron Nola (27) pitches during the second inning of the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

"It's been up and down," said DeJong, who also committed two errors in the game. "I think I can be more consistent and strive every day to be more consistent. That's just baseball. You're going to have the ups and downs. You have to try to be even keeled as much as you can."

Shortstop Freddy Galvis gave the Phillies an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when he hit Carlos Martinez's first pitch of the at-bat five rows deep into the right-center field bleachers. Nola got more run support in the bottom of the fifth when first baseman Tommy Joseph led off with a line-drive home run to left field and second baseman Andres Blanco singled and later scored on an error by Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz to make it a 3-0 ballgame.

Joseph, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, pushed the Phillies out to a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run single that scored Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco.

Martinez (6-6) came into the game ranked third in the NL with a 2.86 ERA and among the top 10 in 11 different statistical categories. He left after six innings, allowing three runs (two earned), six hits and the two home runs while striking out four. He took the loss.

The Cardinals, who had made a living off the NL East this season with a 13-2 record in 15 previous games against the division, dropped to 33-38 to wrap up a seven-day, six-game road trip. A win Thursday would have given St. Louis its first three-game series sweep in Philadelphia since April of 2006.

NOTES: RHP Aaron Nola's 7 1/3 innings were a bit of a rarity for the Phillies, whose starting rotation had averaged a little more six innings per game. ... With a one-out single to right field on the top of the seventh inning, Cardinals C Yadier Molina extended his hitting streak to 10 games. ... Thursday's win was Philadelphia's first since a June 15 victory against the Boston Red Sox. ... The Cardinals have hit at least one home run in a season-best 11 consecutive games, dating back to June 11.

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