Phillies shut out Cardinals to move on to Divisional Series

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Aaron Nola pitched pitched four-hit ball into the seventh inning, Bryce Harper's homer gave Philadelphia an early lead, and the Phillies held off the St. Louis Cardinals 2-0 on Saturday night to sweep their National League wild-card series.

Nola struck out six and walked one on 101 pitches before leaving with two outs in the seventh. Jose Alvarado then retired Yadier Molina on a popup, stranding a runner on first. Seranthony Dominguez struck out MVP candidates Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado to wiggle out of a two-on, one-out jam in the eighth.

The Cardinals made one finally charge off Zach Eflin in the ninth, getting consecutive two-out singles from Corey Dickerson and Molina. But the starter-turned-closer responded by getting Tommy Edman to foul out to end the game, giving the Phillies their first postseason series win since topping Cincinnati in the 2010 divisional round.

They'll face a familiar foe, the NL East champion Braves, when their division series begins Tuesday night in Atlanta.

Miles Mikolas allowed two runs and two hits for St Louis before leaving with two outs in the fifth. Albert Pujols had a pair of singles, including one in the eighth in what was likely the final at-bat of his career.

The sellout crowd of 48,515, the third-largest in Busch Stadium history, was at its flag-waving throatiest trying to keep the dream season of Pujols, Molina and the rest of the Cardinals alive. Instead, their fans watched the NL Central champions go down with a whimper, losing in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

Harper, who was hitless in the opener, staked the Phillies to the lead when a 76 mph curveball left his bat at 111.6 mph on the first pitch of the second inning.