Houston Astros vs Philadelphia Phillies Box Score on Jul 26, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Jul 26, 2017

PHILADELPHIA -- Both Aaron Nola and his battery mate, Cameron Rupp, had career nights on Wednesday.

Nola struck out a career-best 10 batters and Rupp smashed two home runs for the first time in his career as the Philadelphia Phillies routed the Houston Astros 9-0 to avoid a sweep at Citizens Bank Park.

Nola threw six scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.49 in his last seven starts, and he quieted an Astros lineup that entered with a .331 team batting average in July.

Offensively, Rupp was the biggest star in a game where the Phillies had 14 hits, nine of which went for extra bases. Maikel Franco also hit a two-run homer, and the Phillies scored at least nine runs for the seventh time this season.

Nola did not nearly need that much support. The 2014 first-round pick gave up just four hits and walked one batter over the six frames. He stranded a runner at third base in both the first and second innings and gave up just one hit in his final four innings of work.

The right-hander set the career mark in strikeouts thanks in large part to his curveball, which got him seven third strikes -- six swinging. Nola struck out four batters in a row during a stretch on Wednesday, and he has 60 strikeouts in his last seven starts, posting an 11.1 K/9 inning mark during the run.

Mike Fiers lasted only four innings for Houston, matching his shortest start of the year. He got through the first three innings without surrendering a run, but his pitch count ran to 71.

Rupp started the scoring in the third with his eighth homer of the season and first of the game, a two-run opposite-field shot to right. After Fiers hit a batter and issued a walk, Nick Williams drove in another run with a two-out single. Seven of the 12 outs Fiers recorded were strikeouts, but he allowed three walks and hit two batters.

The Phillies added two more in the fifth as Franco hit a towering home run down the left-field line. It was Franco's 15th homer of the year and it scored Aaron Altherr, who tripled to lead off the inning against Astros reliever Michael Feliz.

Tommy Joseph hit a two-run double with two outs in the fifth inning to make it 7-0. Rupp brought Joseph home with his second home run of the night, a 425-foot bomb to left-center field.

The Astros, meanwhile, went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position as they were shut out for just the third time this season. Jose Altuve went 2-for-4 with a double and extended his career-best hitting streak to 18 games.

NOTES: Wednesday marked the first interleague loss of the season for the Astros in their 10th game against an American League opponent. Houston and Arizona are now tied for the majors' best interleague record at 9-1. ... The Phillies hit for the cycle as a team in the fifth inning against Houston reliever Michael Feliz. Nick Williams led off with a triple, Maikel Franco hit a two-run homer, Tommy Joseph singled and Cameron Rupp doubled.