Sunday, October 9, 2022

NLWCS Game 2 - Nola, Harper, Bullpen Lead Phils to NLDS Berth


Phillies 2
, Cardinals 0
NLWCS Game 2 - Saturday Night, October 8th in St. Louis
Phillies win series, 2-0

One Sentence Summary:  Behind the brilliant pitching of Aaron Nola and three Phillies relievers, a moonshot home run from Bryce Harper and a sacrifice fly from Kyle Schwarber, the Phillies defeated the Cardinals, 2-0, and move on to face the Braves in the NLDS.

What It Means:  This was stressful!  But ultimately rewarding and exhilarating.  I got to watch the end of this game with my two sons and we may have awakened the neighbors when the final out was recorded.  

What Happened / Featured Card:  Nola picked up where Zack Wheeler had left off, pitching 6 2/3 shutout innings, allowing four hits and striking out six.  Jose Alvarado, Seranthony Dominguez and Zach Eflin recorded the final seven pressure-packed outs.  Dominguez convincingly struck out Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado in the eighth to erase a minor threat from the Cardinals.  Eflin allowed a few hits in the ninth and with runners at the corners and two outs, Tommy Edman popped out to third baseman Edmundo Sosa in foul territory to begin the second post-game celebration this week.

Harper launched his home run to right off Cardinals' starter Miles Mikolas on the first pitch of the second inning.  The only other run came in the fifth when Schwarber flew out to right to score Alec Bohm.  The Phillies had trouble pushing across runs, but the Cardinals fared worse, going 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.

And now it's off to Atlanta to face the N.L. East division winners in a best of five series, beginning Tuesday.

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