By Matthew Shinkle, Sports Talk Philly Staff 
PHILADELPHIA – After giving up 27 earned runs over his last five starts, Aaron Nola returned to his old self tonight thanks to the extended time off. What would have been his final start before the All-Star Break was skipped to give Nola extra time to refresh both his arm and head.
The break seems to have worked, as Nola pitched six innings, allowing only two hits and striking out five, leaving the Miami Marlins scoreless.
Jose Fernandez put up video game-like numbers against the Phillies, striking out 14 in just 6.1 innings. The number matched his career high. Fernandez also reached career strikeout number 500 in the game.
What felt like a very relaxed and controlled outing for Nola still featured a scary moment. A come-backer drilled Nola in the right shoulder in the sixth inning off the bat of Adeiny Hechavarria, narrowly avoiding his face. He stayed in the game to finish the inning, but stayed in the dugout for the remainder for the game to end his night with 68 pitches.
The Phillies scored first in the first inning, when Maikel Franco hit an RBI groundout to second to score Odubel Herrera. The starting pitchers dominated the middle innings until the seventh when Tommy Joseph hit a leadoff home run off Fernandez.
With a 2-0 lead, Jeanmar Gomez came in in the ninth for the save situation. With a man on first, Christian Yelich doubled to deep right center field to score J.T. Realmuto. After a wild pitch brought Yelich to third, Marcell Ozuna singled to center scoring the tying run. On the play, Herrera threw out Yefri Perez attempting to go from first to third to end the inning. This was Gomez's third blown save of the season.
In the bottom of the tenth inning, Cody Asche walked to leadoff, however was left stranded at second after a sacrifice by Freddy Galvis.
To start the 11th inning, Martin Prado gave the Marlins their first lead of the game after he belted a third-pitch fastball up in the zone into the left field stands. Maikel Franco was the final out of the game after flying out at the left field warning track, nearly tying the game.
What's Next:
- Tuesday, July 19, 2016: vs. Miami Marlins, 7:05 p.m.
- Citizens Bank Park
- No Expected Starter vs. RHP Vince Velasquez (8-2, 3.32 ERA)
- TV: CSN Philly; Radio: SportsRadio 94 WIP
