Forgettable night in Philly for Feliz, offense
Baseball’s highest-scoring team suffers third shutout of season
PHILADELPHIA — The juggernaut that is the Astros’ offense was shut out for only the third time this season in a 9-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park.
Phillies righthander Aaron Nola carved up the Astros for 10 strikeouts over six scoreless innings in one of the best pitching performances against the American League leaders this season. The defeat was the Astros’ first in 10 interleague games.
Michael Feliz was torched for six earned runs in a two-inning relief appearance that put him in the running for one of the two demotions the Astros (6734) will make Friday when they activate Dallas Keuchel and Will Harris from the disabled list.
The outing inflated Feliz’s ERA by more than a full run — from 3.80 to 4.84.
“It wasn’t a good night for us,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “and it really started with their starting pitcher.”
The Astros, who had nine hits, hadn’t been shut out since May 20 against Mike Clevinger and the Cleveland Indians at Minute Maid Park. Their other scoreless game came April 10 against James Paxton and the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field.
Nola, the former LSU star, has been among the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal season for the rebuilding Phillies (3564), the worst team in baseball. His dominant outing Wednesday improved his ERA to 3.17 in 991⁄3 innings. He has a 1.49 ERA and a .189 batting average against in his last seven starts.
The 24-year-old righthander allowed only four hits and issued just one walk Wednesday. He dazzled with a good sinker and a nasty curve.
“His curveball was really good, good enough to get you in front on the fastball,” Jose Altuve said. “(It was) a really good game for him. He has a lot of talent. I love the way he pitched today but unfortunately it was against us.”
Nola became just the second pitcher to reach double digits in strikeouts against the 2017 Astros, not only baseball’s best offensive team but also the hardest to strike out. The first to accomplish that feat was Indians ace Corey Kluber, one of the best pitchers in the major leagues, who struck out 10 Astros in seven innings of three-run ball April 27 at Progressive Field.
“(Nola) was able to get the outside corner for a strike and then after that he was using his changeup against lefties and curveballs backdoor,” Carlos Beltran said. “He did a pretty good job.”
Fiers frustrated
Nola outdueled Mike Fiers, who had his worst start since he turned around his season in late May. Fiers struggled to put batters away, which made for a lot of deep counts. He faced traffic in each of his innings, though he completed only four.
Fiers, who needed 102 pitches to record his 12 outs, escaped trouble in the first three innings before the Phillies got to him in the fourth.
An at-bat after Tommy Joseph ripped a double down the left-field line, Cameron Rupp drilled a 1-and-1 fastball four rows deep into the right-centerfield seats to break a scoreless tie.
Fiers recovered from the homer by striking out Nola for the second out but then plunked Cesar Hernandez with an errant cutter and walked Freddy Galvis. Nick Williams (Ball High School) smacked a single to right field that scored Hernandez.
“They had a good game plan and made me work pretty hard there,” Fiers said.
A cycle in the fifth
Tasked with preserving the Astros’ deficit at 3-0, Feliz failed miserably.
The Phillies hit for the cycle against Feliz in the fifth inning, in which Maikel Franco inflicted the damage by wrapping a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole.
It got worse for Feliz in the sixth.
He allowed four more hits, including two extrabase hits with two outs: a two-run double to Joseph and a two-run homer to Rupp, his second of the game.