Aaron Nola pitched a gem, Odubel Herrera continued to hit, and Tyler Goeddel and Cameron Rupp hooked up on a tremendous game-ending play as the Phillies held off the Cincinnati Reds, 4-3, on Saturday night.
The Phillies are 5-0 in Nola's last five starts.
The Phils have won six of their last seven. They are 22-11 since losing their first four games of the season. That's the second-best record in the National League over that span. They are 14-3 in one-run games.
A win Sunday would give the Phils their third series sweep of the young season.
The start of the game was delayed 38 minutes by rain.
Starting pitching report
Nola gave up five hits and two runs over seven innings. Only one of the runs was earned. He walked just one and struck out nine, matching a career-high.
Nola was at his best in the seventh inning when he got the second and third outs of the inning with the potential tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.
For the season, Nola is 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA. His WHIP is 0.85, which ranks second in the National League to Clayton Kershaw.
Nola is 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA in 34 innings over his last five starts. He has registered 35 strikeouts and walked just six over that span.
Nola has pitched 14 innings against the Reds this season and allowed just two earned runs. He has struck out 17 and walked just one.
Cincinnati starter Tim Adleman (1-1) allowed eight hits and three runs over five innings.
Bullpen report
Manager Pete Mackanin was able to give the workhorse tandem of Hector Neris and Jeanmar Gomez the night off as Andrew Bailey and David Hernandez handled the eighth and ninth innings.
Bailey had his best fastball of the season – he touched 95 mph – in pitching a scoreless eighth and Hernandez earned his first save of the season.
Hernandez was shaky. He allowed a run and had runners on second and third with no outs. He got a ground ball for the first out then induced a fly ball to left for the second out. Eugenio Saurez tagged and tried to score the tying run but Goeddel gunned him down. Rupp survived a big collision at the plate and held the ball for the final out, which was confirmed by replay.
At the plate
Herrera paced the Phillies' offense with an RBI single and his fourth homer of the season, a solo shot in the seventh. Herrera is batting .336.
Maikel Franco and Ryan Howard had back-to-back doubles in the fourth. The RBI was Howard's 17th.
Cesar Hernandez had an RBI single.
Brandon Phillips gave the Reds a 1-0 lead in the first with a shallow sacrifice fly into foul territory down the first base line. Howard took a long time to get rid of the ball and Zack Cosart alertly scampered home from third.
Adam Duvall doubled home the Reds' second run after a Phillies' error. He also doubled home a run in the ninth.
In the field
Catcher Rupp made a costly error when he threw a ball into centerfield, costing the Phillies a good chance to turn a double play in the seventh. The error resulted in an unearned run and the extra pitches that Nola was forced to throw probably cost him a chance to pitch into the eighth inning.
Rupp made up for it with his big play in the ninth.
Up next
The series concludes Sunday afternoon. Lefty Adam Morgan (1-0, 3.94) pitches for the Phillies against right-hander Dan Straily (1-1, 3.47).
