Aaron Nola logged seven scoreless innings as part of a combined two-hitter as the host Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-0 on Sunday afternoon to complete a three-game series sweep.
Nola (12-8) surrendered just one hit while walking one and striking out nine to record his second consecutive quality start.
Jose Alvarado and Craig Kimbrel each followed with an inning of relief, with Kimbrel working around a walk and Paul Goldschmidt’s one-out double to grab his 20th save of the season.
Kyle Schwarber smacked his 36th homer of the season for the Phillies, who have won five of their last six games.
The Cardinals have dropped nine of 11.
St. Louis’ Tommy Edman opened the game with a double and, one out later, he was retired when Goldschmidt reached on a fielder’s choice. But Nola was nearly untouchable from there, retiring the next 11 batters he faced.
Nolan Gorman broke up that streak with a one-out walk in the fifth, but Nola still managed to keep St. Louis out of the hit column for the remainder of his outing.
Schwarber sent the first pitch of the home half of the first over the center field wall for the Phillies. Johan Rojas added three hits and a run.
Making the second major league start of his career, Cardinals starter Drew Rom (0-2) gave up two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out six.
St. Louis went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left five men on base.
After Schwarber’s homer, Trea Turner followed with a single and advanced to second on the play when Richie Palacios bobbled the ball in center field. Bryce Harper then drew a one-out walk, but he was left stranded along with Turner when Rom fanned Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto to prevent further damage.
Rojas doubled to lead off the fifth, moved to third on Schwarber’s groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly from Turner to put the Phillies up 2-0.
Harper effectively sealed the victory with an RBI single in the seventh.
–Field Level Media