Monday, April 22, 2024

Game 22 - Nola Continues Trend of Dominant Starting Pitching

2023 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards
Phillies 8
, White Sox 2
Game 22 - Sunday Afternoon, April 21st in Philadelphia
Record - 14-8, 2nd Place, 1 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Aaron Nola continued the trend of masterful starting pitching and the Phillies offense did its job in this 8-2 series sweeping win against the White Sox.

What It Means:  The Phillies embark on a three-city, 10-game road trip through Cincinnati, San Diego and Anaheim on Monday night with a six-game winning streak on the line.

What Happened:  Nola went eight innings, his only blemish a first inning, two-run home run to Eloy Jimenez.  He allowed four hits overall, with one walk, while striking out seven.  Yunior Marte worked a scoreless ninth, avoiding a repeat of the prior day's bullpen near-meltdown.  After Jimenez' home run in the top of the inning, the Phillies answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.  Bryce Harper singled home Kyle Schwarber who had worked a lead-off walk.  Harper then got into a run down, allowing Trea Turner, who had also walked, to scamper home with the Phillies' second run.  Brandon Marsh would single home Harper, giving the Phillies the lead they wouldn't relinquish.  

In the fourth, three more runs scored courtesy of a Turner RBI single, Harper's sacrifice fly and an RBI double from Alec Bohm.  Schwarber launched his sixth home run of the year in the sixth, and he capped the scoring with a sac fly in the seventh.

Featured Card:  Nola gets the card, and for some reason, he wasn't included in the Topps Heritage set yet.  Maybe that will be rectified with the High Numbers release, which comes later in the year.  For now, here's his team-issued photo card from last season.

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