Categories: 2023 Postgame Recaps

Nola shaky, but big first, ‘pen barely lead Phillies past Cardinals

José Alvarado barely earned the save on Friday. (Photo by Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire)

If Rob Thomson hasn’t officially settled on Aaron Nola as his Game 2 starter in a potential Wild Card Series, the open competition is getting more interesting by the day.

Two days after another strong outing from Cristopher Sánchez against the Atlanta Braves, Nola struggled against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, at the same Busch Stadium where the righty delivered one of his strongest outings of last season in — ironically — Game 2 of the Wild Card Series.

For the third straight start, Nola failed to complete five innings, surrendering three runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out just one batter in 4 2/3 frames.

His defense didn’t help him out. He pitched around a Trea Turner error to start the bottom of the first, as well as rare drop on a diving attempt by Johan Rojas in the second. Edmundo Sosa made an ill-fated attempt to get the lead runner at second on a grounder in the third, and the Cardinals scored two in the frame. Nola himself made a throwing error in the fourth that led to another run.

But it still wasn’t a good outing for Nola, as the “7” in the hit column might suggest. Now, with only two or three more starts remaining in the regular season, he’s running out of time to find an ounce of consistency whose absence has defined his 2023 season.

Nola departed with a lead, though, because his offense gave him a cushion in the first inning. Trea Turner and Alec Bohm singled before a Bryce Harper sacrifice groundout put the Phillies up 1-0, and after J.T. Realmuto added the third hit of the inning, Nick Castellanos made the fourth the most significant, with his 24th homer of the season quadrupling the lead.

After the Cardinals trimmed the lead to one off Nola, Realmuto extended it in the sixth with an RBI single, scoring Sosa after his one-out double.

It was then the bullpen’s time to shine — or, rather, survive. Jeff Hoffman worked around a walk and an error in the sixth. Seranthony Domínguez hit the leadoff man in the seventh but left him at first. Craig Kimbrel walked the bases loaded, all with two outs, in the eighth — then struck out Alec Burleson to tightrope out of that jam.

And, in a drama-filled ninth, José Alvarado worked around two walks, two singles and a poor decision by Sosa on what could’ve been a double play to ultimately close out the one-run victory — with the tying and winning runs in scoring position.

That ninth inning was aided by Turner, who made a sliding play on a grounder to his right before firing a dart to Bryson Stott for the second out of the inning.

It wasn’t the easiest of victories, as much as the top of the first suggested it could be. But it was a victory nonetheless — their 80th of the season. With the Chicago Cubs losing in Arizona, it moved the Phillies to 2 1/2 games up on the National League’s top Wild Card spot.

Ticket IQ Next Game