PHILADELPHIA — Edmundo Sosa singled, Bryce Harper doubled and scored and the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 on Friday night for their seventh straight home win.
Aaron Nola (7-2) pitched in the seventh inning for the Phillies, who entered tied with the Yankees for the most wins in baseball. Philadelphia improved to 40-18.
Sosa put the Phillies up 3-0 with a 439-foot, two-run drive into Ashburn Alley in center field in the second inning against Miles Mikolas (3-6). It was the first ball to reach the walkway beyond the outfield seats since July 22, 2022, when Darick Hall hit a drive there.
Nola allowed a pair of home runs among his three hits, while striking out six and walking two. Nolan Arenado and Brandon Crawford hit home runs for the Cardinals, who lost for just the fourth time in their last 16 games.
Philadelphia returned home after losing four of six on a road trip to Colorado and San Francisco. They were welcomed back to Philadelphia by another sellout crowd, the largest of the season at 44,742, on a beautiful night for baseball. The Phillies improved to 23-8 overall at home and followed up three wins over the Nationals and the defending World Series champion Rangers, opening this three-game set against the Cardinals with a victory in a crisp 2 hours and 14 minutes.
Jeff Hoffman pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in eight tries.
The Phillies also got some stellar defense from second baseman Bryson Stott, who jumped high to catch Iván Herrera’s lineout in the fifth and then dove hard to left to record the final out of the eighth on Alec Burleson’s grounder.
JT Realmuto went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts to end his 17-game hitting streak.
Cardinals rookie Masyn Winn’s 18-game game streak also ended. Winn entered the seventh inning as a pinch hitter and flied out to left field.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Cardinals: OF Lars Nootbaar (oblique strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 30, and INF José Fermín was recalled from Triple-A Memphis.
NEXT
Phillies LHP Ranger Suárez (9-1, 1.75) opposes St. Louis RHP Sonny Gray (7-2, 2.60) in the second contest of the three-game series on Saturday night.
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