PHILADELPHIA -- Both Aaron Nola and his battery mate, Cameron Rupp, had career nights 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, continuing a dominant stretch, 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.

"He's been outstanding for us the last two months," Rupp said of Nola. "He's gotten back to the Aaron everyone got to know when he was first called up, and that's what you want to see. He's a guy that can lead a pitching staff. He knows how to pitch and has three pitches he can put you away with."

Offensively, Rupp was the biggest star in a game where the Phillies had 14 hits, including nine 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 four hits and walked one batter in six innings. He stranded a runner at third base in the first and second innings and gave up only one hit in his final four innings.

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 and he has 60 strikeouts in his last seven starts, an average of 11.1 per nine innings.

"I think location was going to get them," Nola said. "That's what I was focused on tonight, trying to make pitches in quality locations."

Added Astros manager A.J. Hinch: "Nola did a great job. He was throwing his fastball in two different areas, his breaking ball was pretty good and mixed in a couple changeups. Good night for him and a bad night for us."

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.

"He was a little bit wild and around in different areas, he couldn't land his breaking ball," Hinch said of Fiers, who allowed five hits. "He gave up some two-strike breaking ball hits, he also had some decent two-strike fastballs and changeups. He was trying to find the right rhythm, trying to find the right combo. He escaped most of it until the fourth."

The Phillies added two runs 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 sixth 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 two-homer game was the continuation of a strong stretch at the plate for Rupp. He's hitting .357 in his last 13 games and has raised his season average from .199 to .233 in that span.

"I hit my lull that every player goes through, and mine lasted a little longer, unfortunately, to get down to where I was," Rupp said. "I battled through. I came in and did my work. As frustrating as it was at times, I stayed with it, I trusted myself and now I'm not missing my pitches."

The Astros, meanwhile, went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position as they were shut out for only 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 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.