Phils ride HRs, Nola's 8 K's to snap skid
PHILADELPHIA -- For the second straight game, the Phillies jumped out to a multi-run lead against the Cardinals. They held onto it Thursday.
Behind 7 1/3 strong innings from Aaron Nola and a pair of solo homers from Freddy Galvis and Tommy Joseph, the Phillies topped the Cardinals, 5-1, to snap a five-game losing streak. It was just the second win in the past 15 games for the Phillies, who squandered a 5-0 lead Wednesday night.
• Cast your Esurance All-Star ballot for Galvis, Joseph and other #ASGWorthy players
Nola allowed one run on four hits and struck out a season-high eight batters. He put up seven zeroes before Paul DeJong took him deep to lead off the eighth. Nola was effective, throwing 74 of his 107 pitches for strikes, including 21 first-pitch strikes to the 28 batters he faced.
"When you get behind in the count, it puts more stress on you, it puts more stress on your body and it puts more stress on the team," Nola said.
Cardinals starter Carlos Martinez -- who threw a shutout against the Phillies earlier in the month -- went six innings and gave up six hits.
"We've had a couple real nice efforts," Cards manager Mike Matheny said. "We don't really look at the series as much as we look at the individual game, and this is one that we put Carlos on the mound, we expect to come out and keep them at bay and for us to come out and try and build on some of what we've seen offensively."
Galvis gave the Phillies the lead in the first with a homer to right. Philly struck for two more runs in the fifth, when Joseph hit his 11th homer of the year before the Phils scored another run on an error. Joseph added a two-run, two-out single in the eighth.
"It's always difficult playing from behind," Matheny said. "It's always tough. That's what makes it so special, games like yesterday. Those don't happen to everybody. It takes a lot to make that happen."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Basepath blunder:Odubel Herrera was thrown out on the basepaths for the second consecutive day. Standing on third with one out in the fourth, Herrera was picked off by Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina. The Phillies' outfielder was easily thrown out at home trying to score the game-winning run in the ninth inning Wednesday night after he ran through a stop sign from third-base coach Juan Samuel.
"He just didn't really take that hard first step back, which basically deters the catcher from throwing to third base," Phillies manager Pete Mackanin said. "It happens. I'm not pleased about it."
Error-prone Cards: With runners on first and second and the Cards needing just one more out to end the Phillies' scoring threat in the fifth, Galvis grounded to shortstop. Aledmys Diaz fielded the ball going to his left, but in a rush to record the out at second, he didn't transfer it to his hand and instead tried to glove-flip it. The ball fell to the dirt, scoring Andres Blanco for the Philies' third run.
QUOTABLE
"It established that we could hit this guy." -- Mackanin, on Galvis' first-inning home run, which was the Phillies' first run off Martinez in 10 innings this season
WHAT'S NEXT
Cardinals: St. Louis returns home for four games, the first three against Pittsburgh, followed by a makeup game game against the Reds (from April 29). Friday's 7:15 p.m. CT series opener against the Pirates pits Adam Wainwright (7-5, 5.75 ERA) against Jameson Taillon (3-2, 3.38 ERA).
Phillies: The Phils start a nine-game road trip on Friday night against the D-backs at 9:40 p.m ET. The Phillies were swept by Arizona in a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park last weekend.
Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV.