J.T. Realmuto, Aaron Nola lead Phillies to first division title since 2011

J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber homered early, while Aaron Nola was excellent on the mound as the Philadelphia Phillies easily defeated the Chicago Cubs to clinch the NL East title Monday night. It marks the first time that the Phillies have won the NL East since 2011.

The Phillies had already punched their ticket to the postseason Friday with a win over the New York Mets, but failed to lock down the NL East title Saturday or Sunday at Citi Field. They’ll now turn their focus to trying to earn one of the two first-round byes in the NL playoffs, but only after a night of celebrating (dancing on their own?) the franchise’s first division title in 13 years.

Highlights

• Realmuto gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead with his home run off of Caleb Kilian in the bottom of the second inning:

• Schwarber took Kilian deep in the bottom of the third inning, his 37th home run and 100th RBI on the season:

• Nick Castellanos made a tremendous play to rob Pete Crow-Armstrong of a hit to end the top of the second inning. In the bottom of the third inning, Castellanos added onto the lead for the Phillies with an RBI single that plated Trea Turner.

• The Cubs appeared to have Bryce Harper caught between second and third base with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. Instead, Chicago catcher Christian Bethancourt threw the ball into the outfield, and Harper scored. The throw from Nico Hoerner home sailed over the catcher’s head, allowing Castellanos to take second base.

• Brandon Marsh scored on a Kyle Schwarber double play in the bottom of the sixth inning to increase the lead for the Phillies to 6-0.

• Nico Hoerner doubled to left field off of Nola in the top of the seventh inning, scoring Isaac Paredes and breaking up the shutout for Nola.

• Nola departed the game with the bases loaded and no one out in the seventh, giving way to Matt Strahm. The All-Star reliever struck out Patrick Wisdom, before inducing an RBI groundout off the bat of Mike Tauchman. Strahm ultimately got Michael Busch to ground out, escaping the inning with a 6-2 lead:

• Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Estévez pitched the final two innings, locking down the win and NL East title.

Ticket IQ Next Game

• Tuesday, Sept. 24 vs. Cubs
• 6:40 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC Sports Philadelphia
• Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
• Spanish Radio: WTTM 1680

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