Nola, bats lead Phillies to victory over Mariners

By: Rebecca Serad, Sports Talk Philly Staff

Final: Philadelphia Phillies 8, Seattle Mariners 2 ❖ Attendance: 22,648

SEATTLE — Coming into tonight's match-up, the Philadelphia Phillies (25-51) were hoping to beat the Seattle Mariners (39-40) and secure a second win on their current road trip. The Phils were able to do just that. Starter Aaron Nola was fantastic, allowing two runs and striking out nine over seven innings. The only real blemish on Nola's line was the two-run homer that he allowed in the third. The bullpen was effective, as Joaquin Benoit and Hector Neris both threw 1-2-3 innings and cumulatively struck out four out of the six batters they faced.

After being no-hit for four innings, it looked like the Phillies offense wouldn't give much, if any, run support to Nola. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Maikel Franco and Aaron Altherr both homered and Freddy Galvis had a three-hit night. The biggest positive of tonight's burst of offense was its consistency. The Phils didn't just take the lead; they continued to add on to their lead as the game progressed. It was a good thing to see from an offense that has been pretty pitiful this season.

WP: Aaron Nola (5-5, 4.13 ERA) ❖ LP: James Paxton (5-3, 3.44 ERA)

Hub: Game Summary ❖ Starting Pitchers ❖ At the Plate ❖ Bullpen ❖ What's Next

Game Summary

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
PHI	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	1	4	8	9	0
SEA	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	5	2

The bats were quiet for both teams until the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Phillies starter Aaron Nola allowed a walk for the second time in the game, this time to Jarrod Dyson. Catcher Mike Zunino popped out for the second out. Jean Segura followed with his fifth homer of the season, a shot over the wall in right-center field. Ben Gamel struck out for the final out, but the Mariners had already taken the lead.

Once the Phillies got their first hit in the fifth inning, the offense took off. Maikel Franco led off the inning with a double to right field. He advanced to third on an infield single by Cameron Perkins. Catcher Cameron Rupp walked for the second time in the game to load the bases with no outs for Ty Kelly. He hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Franco and advance Perkins to third base. This brought Daniel Nava to the plate with runners on first and third and only one out. He hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Perkins. The throw to home got away, which allowed Rupp to advance to second base. Freddy Galvis followed with a single to right. Rupp tried to score from second and was thrown out at home for the final out.

The Phils took the lead in the top of the seventh. Franco led off the inning with his tenth homer of the season. Mariners starter James Paxton retired Perkins on a pop out on an attempted bunt and Rupp and Kelly on strike outs. However, the Phillies had taken the lead, which was crucial in such a close game.

The Phillies added on in the eighth inning. Nava led off the inning with a double to right field. He scored on a single by Galvis to give the Phils a 4-2 lead. After a ground out by Howie Kendrick moved Galvis up to second, Aaron Altherr was intentionally walked. Tommy Joseph was then walked to load the bases for Franco. He hit into a force out, which retired Galvis at home. Everyone else moved up a bag. Odubel Herrera came into the game to pinch-hit for Perkins. Unfortunately, Herrera flied out to center to end the frame.

The Phils kept tacking on in the ninth. Rupp hit a single to start the rally. Kelly hit a sacrifice bunt to move Rupp over, but Mariners pitcher Edwin Diaz threw the ball away. That allowed Kelly and Rupp to move up to second and third base, respectively. One out later, Galvis knocked in Rupp with a single; Kelly moved up to third on the play. Kendrick followed with a sacrifice fly to score Kelly from third base and cushion the Phillies' lead. Galvis stole second during Altherr's at bat, but that didn't seem to matter, as Altherr followed with a home-run to left-center field. The Phillies now led 8-2 and knocked the Mariners' reliever out of the game. The extra runs weren't necessary, as Hector Neris struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth, but it was good to see the Phils' bats perk up and support the pitching staff.

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