Philadelphia right-hander Aaron Nola produced his second consecutive scoreless start Tuesday, firing eight shutout innings to lead the visiting Phillies to a 2-0 win over the Atlanta Braves.
Nola (7-2) extended his streak of scoreless innings to 17. He allowed four hits and three walks while striking out eight against the Braves. He was lifted after throwing 117 pitches and earned his first victory since May 29.
Over his last three starts, Nola has a 0.39 ERA (one earned run in 23 innings) with five walks and 28 strikeouts. The only negative stat for Nola: This was the first time in the three games he did not record double-digit strikeouts.
Hector Neris pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out the side, and earned his 17th save in 19 opportunities.
It was only the second time this season that Atlanta has been shut out. Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers blanked the Braves 9-0 on May 7.
The win enabled the Phillies to trim Atlanta's lead to 4 1/2 games in the National League East as Philadelphia improved to 5-2 against the Braves this season.
Left-hander Dallas Keuchel (1-2) had his best outing since signing with the Braves as a free agent last month. Keuchel, who was making his first career appearance at SunTrust Park, allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. He suffered his first career loss to the Phillies.
The distressed Atlanta bullpen was solid on Tuesday as Chad Sobotka, Jerry Blevins and Josh Tomlin combined to throw two scoreless innings.
The Phillies got their only two runs in the fourth inning on a double by Jay Bruce. The left fielder has been dealing with a sore left elbow that bothers him in the field, but not at the plate. He affirmed the diagnosis when he lined a double to right field that scored Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto.
Philadelphia's Bryce Harper went 0-for-4 and his streak of consecutive games reaching base ended at 16.
--Field Level Media
Philadelphia | Atlanta | |
Aaron Nola | Player | Dallas Keuchel |
Win | W/L | Loss |
8.0 | IP | 7.0 |
8 | Strikeouts | 3 |
4 | Hits | 5 |
0.00 | ERA | 2.57 |
Philadelphia | Atlanta | |
Jean Segura | Player | Nick Markakis |
2 | Hits | 2 |
0 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 3 |
.500 | Avg | .500 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
Philadelphia | 7 | 0 | 9 | .212 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
Atlanta | 4 | 0 | 5 | .133 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |