Aaron Nola pitched seven scoreless innings, giving up just four hits, and Nick Castellanos hit a three-run homer to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 5-0 victory over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night. This win was the Phillies’ fourth in a row.
The Phillies have been improving their play recently, winning the last two games of a series in Kansas City and the first two games of their series against Houston.
They have won nine of their last 13 games and kept a strong lead in the NL East, being six games ahead of Atlanta as of Tuesday. They are playing like the team that was considered one of the best in baseball before the All-Star break.
“I think we’re playing better baseball,” manager Rob Thomson said, “and I’ll leave it at that.”
Nola (12-6) secured a much-needed win after not winning in his last seven starts, which included five no-decisions and two losses. His last win was on July 11 against the Dodgers.
Nola struck out two batters in the first inning and began his 56th career win at Citizens Bank Park with a strong start.
Nola joined some of Philadelphia’s franchise greats in the record book. His 56 wins at CBP tie him with former Phillies ace Cole Hamels for the most wins in the 21 seasons at the ballpark. He also passed Curt Schilling and moved into seventh place on the franchise’s career wins list with 102.
“It’s pretty cool,” Nola said. “Curt was an unbelievable pitcher. It’s cool to be up there with him and those guys. That’s all good stuff at the end of the day but I just want to win for the team.”
Nola received a standing ovation from nearly 40,000 fans after finishing the seventh inning. He struck out six and walked one in his 102 pitches.
The Phillies have now won a franchise-record 30 straight games when the starting pitcher goes at least seven innings, the second-longest streak in baseball history.
