St. Louis Cardinals vs Philadelphia Phillies Box Score on Jun 22, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jun 22, 2017

PHILADELPHIA -- For the St. Louis Cardinals, Thursday afternoon was a shot at a series sweep and making up ground in the National League Central Division race. Meanwhile, it was an opportunity for the Philadelphia Phillies to get a break from the life of being Major League Baseball's worst team.

Phillies starter Aaron Nola provided the reprieve for the struggling ball club and put together one of his best pitching efforts of the season. He struck out a season-high eight batters and allowed just one run in 7 1/3 innings to help lift Philadelphia to a 5-1 win and snap the team's five-game losing streak.

Nola tied his season high of seven strikeouts before the game reached the seventh and cruised through the first seven innings, allowing just three hits and one walk. After allowing a leadoff home run to Paul DeJong on a 2-2 pitch in the top of the eighth, Nola fanned pinch hitter Greg Garcia for his eighth strikeout. He left in favor of reliever Pat Neshek one batter later after walking Matt Carpenter.

Neshek got the Phillies (23-48) out of any potential damage by getting Tommy Pham to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. Luis Garcia pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out the game.

Shortstop Freddy Galvis gave the Phillies an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when he hit Carlos Martinez's first pitch of the at-bat five rows deep into the right-center field bleachers. Nola got more run support in the bottom of the fifth when first baseman Tommy Joseph led off with a line-drive home run to left field and second baseman Andres Blanco singled and later scored on an error by Cardinals shortstop Aledmys Diaz to make it a 3-0 ballgame.

Joseph, who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, pushed the Phillies out a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run single that scored Herrera and Maikel Franco.

Martinez came into the game ranked third in the NL with a 2.86 ERA and among the top 10 in 11 different statistical categories. He left after six innings, allowing three runs (two earned), six hits and the two home runs while striking out four.

The Cardinals, who had made a living off the NL East this season with a 13-2 record in 15 previous games against the division, dropped to 33-38 to wrap up a seven-day, six-game road trip. A win Thursday would have given St. Louis its first three-game series sweep in Philadelphia since April of 2006.