SPECIAL K
Changeup helps Nola fan career-high 12 for fifth win as Phillies top Giants
PHILADELPHIA » It’s not clear if remnants of a Citizens Bank Park crowd of 22,456 Tuesday night booed the manager or the closer, Hector Neris, when he entered with one out in the ninth inning of a 4-2 win over the San Francisco Giants.
Or if they booed both of them.
There were no such questions about Aaron Nola, who struck out a career-high 12 batters, many of them with a high-70s changeup, to lead the Phillies to just their fourth victory in the last 10 games. Nola’s third double-digit strikeout game of the season makes him 5-1 with a 2.05 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 52.2 innings.
“Noles continues to flash that 94 early in the game and I think that makes the opposition respect the fastball,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “And then you’ve got two really plus pitches in the curveball and the changeup that make that fastball even more effective. But it’s the poise, it’s the confidence in any situation.”
Phillies pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts, the last two by Neris, who couldn’t get an out in a loss to the Washington Nationals Sunday. It had a lot to do with command.
“I think the key tonight was getting ahead of the guys,” Nola said. “I think as a staff we did that well. It’s easier to get to two strikes when you’re doing that. And putting them away, it’s easier when you were ahead.”
Aaron Altherr, Jorge Alfaro and Carlos Santana ripped solo shots for the Phillies, who have ripped seven in two games of the series with the Giants. Pablo Sandoval homered for the Giants.
Altherr’s dinger tied the score. Alfaro gave the Phillies the lead for good. Nola recorded nine straight outs via a strikeout before Gregor Blanco stroked a single to centerfield in the fifth inning, then was picked off first base. At that point Nola had matched his single-game career high of 11 strikeouts.
Blanco was actually picked off twice. Though a lengthy replay review brought the safe sign from home plate umpire Gerry Davis, the CSN Philly feed showed otherwise. Nonetheless Blanco took another big lead and was nailed. Santana’s tag pushed the diving Blanco’s arm off the bag.
Even the Phillies’ outs were hit hard on the 72-degree night against Giants lefty starter Derek Holland, who gave up two homers. Cory Gearrin gave up the other.
The pop doesn’t surprise Kapler.
“It feels like we’ve had a lot of very-close-to home runs but not quite home runs,” Kapler said. “We’ve had some moments where we thought how did that ball not get out? Some of that has to do with weather conditions. Some of it has to do with trajectory. And some of it has to do with random chance. All of those things in combination have created not as many home runs as our power suggests.”
Odubel Herrera went 2-for-4 with one RBI, reaching base safely for the 37th straight game.
And, unlike most of the games in May, which have averaged three-plus hours, this one was completed in a svelte 2:53.
But it was not without drama.
Reliever Tommy Hunter, who has eight strikeouts in seven innings, got the last out with the tying run at the plate in the eighth inning. He then got the first out of the ninth, striking out Brandon Belt (2-for-4).
The boos began when Kapler walked to the mound and intensified as Neris walked in from the bullpen.
Kapler said bringing Neris in after the start of the inning had nothing to do with the reliever getting shelled over the weekend. It was the first time Neris entered after a frame began.
“This was really liking the Hunter-Belt matchup,” Kapler said. “We felt like Tommy was the right guy to get Belt out in that situation, then we knew we were handing it over to Hector. I’m not sure what other games are going to look like. And I certainly wouldn’t want to give away any strategy.”
Neris said he was told to be ready after Hunter faced Belt. That said, Neris was excited to get back on track.
“I’m happy because I helped the team to win,” Neris said. “I know what I have to do. Like I told you before, I’m not going to be perfect sometimes. I’m going to have a bad day. I’m going to make a mistake with one pitch, my mechanics or something. And today I come in positive and attacked the hitters with my pitches.”