Aaron Nola, defense leads Phillies to sweep over Brewers
Jose F. Moreno / The Philadelphia Inquirer
Aaron Nola celebrated his 31st birthday on Tuesday, a day later, he recorded his 98th career win.
Nola’s seven scoreless innings, along with some stellar defense, led the Phillies to a three-game sweep over the Brewers with a 2-0 win Wednesday afternoon in front of 38,910 at Citizens Bank Park.
The Phils are 44-19 and have the best record in baseball. They lead the Braves by eight games in the NL East. It is Philadelphia’s best record through 63 games since 1993, and they are on pace for 113 wins.
They are not in this position without their starting position.
Zack Wheeler, Nola, Ranger Suarez, and Cristopher Sanchez have combined for a 2.34 ERA in 305 1/3 innings so far this season. In the National League, Suarez ranks first in ERA with a 1.70, Wheeler is third with a 2.23, Sanchez is fifth with a 2.71, and Nola now lists sixth with a 2.77 ERA.
It was Nola who went out and threw yet another gem in the series finale against the Brewers.
He went seven scoreless while allowing just two hits, no runs, no walks, and stuck out five on 93 pitches. It was his eighth win of the season.
Nola has kind of fallen under the radar this season, given he is in a rotation with Suarez and Wheeler who are running for a Cy Young. Nola’s stats this season are some of the best he has ever had. He has that 2.77 ERA in 84.1 innings with 76 strikeouts and a 0.97 WHIP. Nola has been stellar, and probably the ace of any other rotation.
Something else that was stellar, specifically in this series, was the Phillies’ defense.
In the third inning, Gary Sanchez lined out to a leaping Bryson Stott near second base. He got up, and it has become his signature play. Cristian Pache made a diving catch in center field to end the fourth inning, and then Alec Bohm threw William Contreras out at home on a fielder’s choice to secure the Brewers’ goose egg, with a great tag from Garrett Stubbs.
The Phillies have just one error in the last seven games, and they have made great plays in that stretch.
The Phillies’ starting rotation, defense, and bullpen are allowing the Phillies to win some of these lower-scoring games. The bullpen helped out Wednesday, too, as Jeff Hoffman and Jose Alvarado shut Milwaulkee down in the eighth and ninth innings.
Just two years ago, it seemed as if the Phillies needed to win games by scoring a boatload of runs. 10-8, 9-6, 8-7, whatever. Now, they have established the best pitching staff in baseball, along with some elite defense. It takes a lot of pressure off the offense, who can now just go out there and hit.
They do not need to score a bunch of runs to win a ballgame, they can earn victories by winning 2-0, 2-1, or 3-1 like they have this series.
Those two runs on Wednesday came off the bat of Nick Castellanos.
After a walk-off double to give the Phillies the win Tuesday night, Castellanos came up huge again with a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning. It was Castellanos’ fifth hit of this young month of June.
The weather is heating up and so is Castellanos.
The Phils end the homestand 5-1, with the only loss coming on Sunday Night Baseball to the Cardinals. The Cardinals came into that series as the hottest team in baseball, and the Brewers came into Philly with a 36-23 record. The Phils shut both of them down.
They now will have two days off as they travel across the pond to London, where they match up with the Mets for a two-game series on Saturday and Sunday. At the moment, it looks like Suarez will be ready to go for Game 1, with Taijuan Walker taking the ball on Sunday.
The Phillies’ taxi squad for the London Series will be RHP Nick Nelson, C Rafael Marchan, and 1B Darick Hall.
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