Nola works into eighth, pitches Phillies past Marlins, 6-0
MIAMI (AP) Aaron Nola was shaky early, then quickly got himself into a groove and was dominant the rest of the way.
Nola allowed four hits in 7 1/3 innings to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 6-0 victory over the Miami Marlins on Wednesday night.
''He's one of the best in baseball at making in-game adjustments,'' Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. ''Really impressive tonight.''
Nola (4-1) walked one and struck out seven to help the Phillies snap a season-high, four-game losing streak.
''He was pretty dominant throughout the whole game, not a lot of stress,'' Phillies left fielder Rhys Hoskins said. ''You need that from your guys at the top of the rotation. He stopped the bleeding. Noles was Noles and we needed it.''
He retired 17 consecutive batters at one point.
''I was just trying to get early contact,'' Nola said. ''I know they're going to swing if I'm around the zone. My changeup worked pretty well tonight.''
Nola allowed two baserunners in each of the first two innings before not allowing another until Lewis Brinson's single in the eighth ended his outing.
''It's really fun when it's like that, a pitcher that makes the adjustment so quick and just hits the spot all of the time,'' Phillies catcher Jorge Alfaro said. ''It's so fun.''
Cesar Hernandez led off the game with a home run and Maikel Franco had two doubles and drove in a run for the Phillies.
Jose Urena (0-5) remained winless in his last nine starts dating to last season despite allowing two runs, one earned, in seven innings.
''Jose threw the ball good,'' Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. ''The first guy leads off with a homer, but that really didn't bother me.''
The Marlins' J.T. Realmuto extended his hitting streak to 11 games, tying a career high, with a single in the first inning. He is hitting .327 (17 for 52) over that span.
The Phillies led 2-0 in the second on a throwing error by Urena.
''Tried to make a nice and easy throw, the ball flew,'' Urena said.
Franco drove in a run on a double and scored on a groundout by Pedro Florimon to push Philadelphia's lead to 4-0 in the eighth.
The Phillies added two runs in the ninth to cap the scoring.
HERNANDEZ ADJUSTED APPROACH
Hernandez had a conversation with Kapler before the game, which helped lead to his leadoff home run.
''One of the cool things about Cesar is he told me in batting practice, `I think I need to ease up on my swing a little bit, I'm going to be nice and easy tonight,''' Kapler said. ''... Cesar did exactly what he said he was going to do.''
It was his fifth career leadoff home run, first since May 27, 2017, against Cincinnati.
THREE STRAIGHT
Despite the loss, the Marlins won the three-game series and have won three consecutive series for the first time this season.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Phillies: IF Scott Kingery (biceps) was held out of the lineup after getting hit by a pitch in Tuesday's game.
Marlins: 1B Justin Bour (back) returned to the starting lineup after pinch hitting the first two games of the series. He missed two games before his pinch-hit appearances.
UP NEXT
Phillies: RHP Nick Pivetta (1-1, 3.27 ERA) starts Friday night at Washington. He has pitched at least five innings in each of his last five starts, going 1-1 with a 2.79 ERA.
Marlins: LHP Wei-Yin Chen (1-0, 1.69) starts Friday night at Cincinnati in the opener of a three-game series. He is making his second start of the season.
