Hit hard in Miami in his final start of the first half, Aaron Nola was locked in throughout most of Tuesday night's 4-3 Phillies win over the Brewers at Citizens Bank Park.
Nola allowed two earned runs over 7⅓ innings. He was pitching on eight days' rest as the Phils gave him an extended break after he finished the first half leading the majors in innings.
He allowed just five baserunners, with three reaching consecutively with two outs in the fifth inning and two in a row to start the eighth. Nola preceded that first little hiccup by retiring 14 straight and responded to it by retiring seven in a row. He went 1-2-3 in six of his first seven innings and didn't throw 15 pitches in any frame until the eighth.
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Nola was greeted by back-to-back singles in his final frame, but Gregory Soto came in to put out the fire. Soto's 4.79 ERA doesn't come close to telling the story of his season. He has had long periods of dominance with a few clunkers mixed in, and he's stranded 17 of the 21 baserunners he's inherited, one of the best rates in all of Major League Baseball.
Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless ninth to close out the one-run win. Kimbrel is 16 for 16 in saves and has converted six one-run saves in his last 18 appearances.
The Phils supported Nola out of the chute with a first-pitch leadoff home run from Kyle Schwarber, who has gone deep four games in a row for the first time in his career. The Phillies have won eight straight games that Schwarber led off with a homer.
They scored again in the second inning on a simple ground ball by Alec Bohm with runners on second and third and the infield back. Bohm has had a knack for delivering with runners in scoring position since he arrived in the majors in 2020, hitting .314 in 427 plate appearances.
Philadelphia Phillies
Trea Turner tripled and scored in the third inning, then singled and scored in the fifth. He's reached base in 9 of 18 plate appearances the last four games in the best mini-stretch the top two hitters in the Phillies' lineup have had since April.
Bryson Stott continues to rake. He had another multi-hit game, his 32nd of the season. The only National Leaguers with more are three MVPs and a batting champ: Ronald Acuña Jr., Luis Arraez, Freddie Freeman and Paul Goldschmidt. Stott is hitting .306 on the season and .300 in 526 at-bats since last August 6. It's not a small sample.
Schwarber also made a rare impact defensively, covering more than 100 feet of ground and leaping at the wall to rob Owen Miller of extra bases and perhaps a home run in the fifth inning. It proved to be a crucial play as the next three hitters reached on a single, double and single.
This is an important week for the Phils. It's a playoff push so every night is important, but the Phillies went into Tuesday a half-game behind Milwaukee in the National League playoff picture. The Brewers currently lead the NL Central so the Phils aren't directly chasing them now, but they could be as the second half develops based on how the Reds play.
The Reds are hosting the Giants, who began the night in the top wild-card spot with just one game separating the first wild-card team from the first team out (the Phillies).
The skidding Diamondbacks, who opened the night in the second wild-card position, have a tough series in Atlanta.
The Phillies are 52-42, a 90-win pace. They are a ridiculous 27-10 since June 3, second-best in the majors behind only the Braves. They've allowed 13 fewer runs than any team in the majors over that span, and have won at least four games in a row for the seventh time in 2023.