The Phillies have taken the first step in what hopefully will be a deep playoff run, beating the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Saturday night to advance to the National League Divisional Series. A surging Phillies team will head to Atlanta to take on the vaunted Braves in a best-of-five series.
After a rough September the Phillies have changed course in the postseason’s opening round, with two statement victories over the Cardinals. Game one ended with a six-run ninth inning to shock the Redbirds, while game two was a good old fashioned pitchers’ duel, where Aaron Nola was completely unhittable.
Nola twirled 6.2 shutout innings, surrendering only five baserunners and punching out six. The 29-year-old kept the Cardinals guessing all afternoon, and put the Phillies in a strong position to win. José Alvarado rebounded from a tough outing on Friday to record two outs, while Seranthony Domínguez worked out of a bases loaded jam by striking out MVP front runners Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. The ninth inning was a bit dramatic, as Zack Eflin allowed two hits, and the Cardinals were able to bring the winning run to the plate, but a lazy pop up from Tommy Edman finished things up.
There wasn’t much offense in this one, as the Phillies only scratched across two runs to the Cardinals’ zero, but it was enough. Bryce Harper got the good guys on the board early with a second inning solo blast, and a Kyle Schwarber sacrifice fly in the fifth scored Alec Bohm to double the lead.
This series may not have been the prettiest, as outside of a complete meltdown from the Cardinals late in game one the Phillies’ offense struggled to get much going. However, in the postseason it doesn’t matter how you win, so long as you win. The Phils will now head to Atlanta to begin a best-of-five NLDS with the Braves. Ranger Suárez will square off against Max Fried in Tuesday’s opener, with co-aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola ready to go for games two and three.