Rhys Hoskins, Aaron Nola pace Phillies to series win over Pirates

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Aaron Nola was pitching brilliantly. All he needed was a little help from the boys with the bats.

He got it from Rhys Hoskins in the bottom of the eighth inning. Hoskins’ fourth homer of the new season was a three-run shot and it helped lift the Phils to a 6-2 win Saturday over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Phillies are 13-7 and 12-3 since starting the season 1-4. They have opened this 10-game homestand with three straight wins against the Pirates, who came into the series six games over .500 and 7-2 on the road. At 8-1, the Phillies are off to their best start at home since 1981.

Nola improved to 2-1 on the season with seven innings of two-run ball. He walked none and struck out nine.

The right-hander allowed a leadoff home run to Sean Rodriguez then would have been clean the rest of the way if it weren’t for a pop up that dropped in between centerfielder Odubel Herrera and second baseman Cesar Hernandez with two outs in the sixth. Herrera was not aggressive enough coming in for the ball and it dropped in for an RBI single as the Pirates took a 2-0 lead.

It was the second time in a less than a week that Herrera committed a boo-boo behind Nola. He made two of them, one on the bases and one in the outfield, as Nola and the Phillies suffered a 2-1 loss Monday in Atlanta.

Hoskins’ go-ahead home run came with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Carlos Santana was hit by a pitch with one out and Herrera atoned with a base hit to right, chasing Pittsburgh starter Steve Brault.

Pirates manager Clint Hurdle brought in hard-throwing right-hander Michael Feliz to face Hoskins. The Phillies’ cleanup man took two fastballs to go down 0-2. He then fouled off two pitches, took a ball and fouled off another before hammering a 97 mph heater into the leftfield seats for a three-run homer and a lead the Phillies never relinquished.

Hoskins drove in four of the Phillies’ runs. He added an RBI single to kick off a three-run rally in the eighth. He has 19 RBIs on the season.

Nola gave up just six hits in his seven innings. Two of them were infield hits and one was the sixth-inning pop up that should have been caught. All in all, a pretty stellar effort for Nola, whose ERA is 2.30. Nola has made five starts and not allowed more than two runs in any of them. He has given up just 20 hits for the season. Seventy-five of the 103 pitches he threw Saturday were strikes.

After Nola left, Luis Garcia struck out two in eighth and Hector Neris registered a four-out save after Adam Morgan was touched for a soft infield hit. 

Notes:

• Tommy Hunter pitched a scoreless inning for Double A Reading Friday night. Manager Gabe Kapler would not say what the next step would be for Hunter, but he is close to being ready to be activated. He is on the disabled list with a hamstring strain.

• After the game, the Phillies sent left-handed pitcher Hoby Milner to Triple A Lehigh Valley. A corresponding move will be made Sunday and it could be activating Hunter.

• Herrera has reached base in 22 straight games, dating to last season.

• The Phillies are 6-1 in one-run games. Last year, they were 21-36 in one-run games.

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