The Sports Xchange
Jun 6, 2017
ATLANTA -- Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola allowed one run over eight innings to help the Phillies win their fourth straight game, a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.
Nola (3-3) gave up five hits and one walk and struck out six. His eight innings of work matched his career high.
He retired eight consecutive batters after giving up a first-inning run and retired the final 11 batters he faced.
Nola became the first Philadelphia starter to throw a pitch in the eighth inning of a game since Jeremy Hellickson pitched a complete-game shutout against the Marlins on Sept. 17, 2016.
The Braves tried to rally in the ninth inning. Matt Kemp and Matt Adams had back-to-back singles with one out against Hector Neris. That was enough to convince manager Pete Mackanin to lift Neris in favor of sidearm pitcher Pat Neshek, who struck out Adonis Garcia and got Kurt Suzuki to pop out to end the game. Neshek earned his first save.
Howie Kendrick was 3-for-4 and Freddy Galvis had two hits for the Phillies.
The Phillies took a 3-1 lead when they scored twice in the sixth inning. Cesar Hernandez and Odubel Herrera opened the inning with back-to-back doubles. Herrera went to third on Kendrick's single and scored when Jaime Garcia was called for a balk on a pickoff play to first.
Garcia (2-4) pitched 7 2/3 innings, the third time in four starts that he's pitched at least seven innings. He allowed three runs on eight hits and no walks with four strikeouts.
The Braves jumped on Nola for a run in the first. Brandon Phillips doubled and scored on an opposite-field single by Nick Markakis.
Garcia retired the first 11 Philadelphia batters, a streak that ended when Kendrick hit a long solo homer to left, his third of the season, to tie the game at 1. It was the first home run and the first earned run allowed by Garcia since May 21.
NOTES: Atlanta placed RHP Bartolo Colon (2-7, 7.78 ERA) on the 10-day disabled list with a left oblique strain. He was replaced on the roster by RHP Jason Hursh, who was 2-1 with a 3.09 ERA in 20 combined relief appearances with Triple-A Gwinnett and Double-A Mississippi. A replacement for Colon in the starting rotation is expected to be announced in a couple of days, manager Brian Snitker said. ... Philadelphia 1B Tommy Joseph is the franchise's fourth player to hit 30-plus homers in his first 162 games. ... Philadelphia great Mike Schmidt apologized to Odubel Herrera for saying the club could not build around the outfielder because of a language barrier. In a statement, Schmidt said his comments were "disrespectful to Hererra and Latin players in general."