Instant Replay: Phillies 1, Cardinals 0

BOX SCORE

ST. LOUIS - Aaron Nola's continued brilliance and Ryan Howard's solo home run added up to a 1-0 Phillies' win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night.

Nola pitched seven shutout innings to run his scoreless streak to 20 innings over his last three starts.

Howard broke a scoreless tie with a homer in the sixth. He had been hitless with nine strikeouts in his previous 12 at-bats before the homer.

The Phillies' pitching staff has recorded six shutouts in the first 27 games. Last season, the Phils did not record their sixth shutout until Sept. 8 and they had just seven the entire season.

The Phillies have won 10 of their last 12 games to improve to 16-11. They have not lost two in a row since April 18-19.

Starting pitching report
For the second straight start, Nola pitched seven shutout innings and gave up just two hits. He gave up a leadoff double to Matt Carpenter in the first inning then allowed just a walk and an infield hit the rest of his stay. He struck out seven. Ten of his outs came on ground balls.

Nola is 2-2 with a 2.93 ERA in six starts. His 0.83 WHIP is third-best among NL starters behind Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta, both former Cy Young winners.

St. Louis starter Michael Wacha was pretty good in his own right. He scattered five hits over eight innings, walked three and struck out eight. One of the hits, of course, was Howard's homer, which accounted for the game's only run.

Bullpen report
Hector Neris continued his outstanding work. He struck out the side in the eighth. Neris has 27 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings. He has walked just four.

Jeanmar Gomez earned his ninth save.

At the plate
Howard's first-pitch home run in the sixth was his sixth of the season and 22nd in 66 career games against the Cardinals. He has 66 RBIs in those games.

Howard has 12 home runs and 40 RBIs in 36 career games at Busch Stadium.

In the field
Peter Bourjos made a terrific running catch toward the right-field corner to steal an extra-base hit away from Randal Grichuk to end the fourth inning. The play may have saved a run.

Up next
Adam Morgan (0-0, 5.40) opposes Mike Leake (0-3, 5.83) on Wednesday night.