The St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies met Sunday afternoon in their series finale. The two teams split the first two-game of the series; The Phillies taking game one and the Cardinals taking game two. Both games one and two were blowouts, the Phillies won game one 9-2, and the Cardinals won game two 9-4.
The Cardinals and Phillies both came into the game with a 7-7 record, and both looked to get above the .500 mark on the season. Both teams found themselves in third place in their division.
The Phillies put Ace Aaron Nola on the mound, while the Cardinals went with John Gant. Gant came into the game 0-1 with a 3 ERA and 8 strikeouts on the season. Nola is also 0-1 with a 3.45 ERA, and 18 strikeouts in 3 starts this season.
Phillies’ Stars Put on a Show
Bryce Harper got the fireworks going early in this one. Harper hit a 383-foot home run to deep right in the 1st inning to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. The early homer was Harper’s second of the season. Little did Harper or anyone else in the stadium know that would be the difference-maker in the game.
The Phillies added a second run in the 5th inning after Alec Bohm hit a sacrifice fly that drove in Rhys Hoskins.
The Phillies offense wasn’t able to do a ton on Sunday, but it didn’t really matter. After all, the little offense they were able to provide was enough. Aaron Nola was lights on the mound all day. The Cardinals had no answer for what he was presenting to them. Nola pitched all 9 innings for the Phillies, holding the Cardinals to just 2 hits and striking out 10 batters.
St. Louis Struggles
After a huge offensive surge on Saturday, the Cardinals couldn’t get anything going on Sunday. Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong were the only Cardinals who were able to register a hit against Aaron Nola. Tommy Edman was the only other Cardinal to get on base after he reached on an error in the 3rd inning.
Unlike the offense, the Cardinal pitching was good on Sunday. Starter John Gant pitched 5 innings allowing 2 runs, and gave up 5 hits. Gant also walked 5 batters and struck out 5 batters. The Cardinal bullpen allowed just 1 hit after Gant left the game.
What’s Next?
With the win the Phillies now sit one game above .500 at 8-7. They will open up a 3-game series against the San Fransico Giants on Monday.
The Cardinals fall to one game below .500 at 7-8 with the loss. They will look to bounce back when they travel to Washington for a 3-game series with the Nationals on Monday.
