Phillies blank Cardinals, advance to face Braves in NLDS

ST. LOUIS -- The Phillies are bringing postseason baseball back to the city of Philadelphia for the first time in 11 years. Led by Bryce Harper and Aaron Nola, the Phillies dispatched the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 Saturday night to win their National League wild-card series 2-0 on the road and advance to the NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. Citizens Bank Park will see its first playoff action since the Phillies lost to the Cardinals in the 2011 NLDS. Harper hit a solo home run to prove the only offense Philadelphia would need and Nola (1-0) threw 6 2/3 shutout innings for the victory. Zach Eflin escaped a ninth-inning jam to earn the save. Nola allowed just four hits while striking out six batters and walking one, continuing a trend that saw him post a 2.36 ERA in his six September starts. "He's been very consistent with being able to command his fastball this year," Phillies manager Rob Thomson said before the game. "And when he commands his fastball, everything else plays up: cutter, curveball, changeup, and he's been able to do that." For the Cardinals, their playoff elimination ended the career of Hall of Fame candidates Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. Both announced their plans to retire after this season. Cardinals starting pitcher Miles Mikolas (0-1) allowed two runs on two hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one. Lars Nootbaar led off the bottom of the first with a single and took second on a Brandon Marsh error. Nola left him there by striking out Pujols and Paul Goldschmidt before getting Nolan Arenado to fly out. Harper's homer leading off the second put the Phillies up 1-0. Alec Bohm opened the fifth with a double and advanced on Marsh's sacrifice bunt. After Mikolas hit Jean Segura with a pitch, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol summoned Jordan Montgomery in relief. Montgomery walked Bryson Stott and allowed Kyle Schwarber's sacrifice fly as the Phillies doubled their lead to 2-0. J.T. Realmuto drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and raced to third base on Harper's single. Bohm drew an intentional walk with two outs and the Phillies tried to steal a run. Bohm got caught in a rundown and the Cardinals tagged him for the third out before Realmuto could score. Marsh led off the seventh with a double and took third on a bunt, but Montgomery struck out Stott and Schwarber. Nootbaar drew a walk off Jose Alvarado with one out in the eighth and Pujols hit a single off Seranthony Dominguez. But Goldschmidt and Arenado struck out to strand the potential tying runs. The two Cardinals stars went 1-for-15 with six strikeouts in the series. Two-out singles by Corey Dickerson and Molina in the ninth gave the Cardinals one last gasp, but Tommy Edman popped out to end the game. --Jeff Gordon, Field Level Media