Aaron Nola never gets flustered
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Nola struck out 10 in another dominant performance, Scott Kingery hit a three-run homer and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Colorado Rockies 5-4 on Tuesday night.
Seranthony Dominguez escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth for his third save.
”I just take it pitch by pitch,” Nola said.
Nola (8-2) allowed one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings, lowering his ERA to 2.27. He has given up three runs or less in 13 of 14 starts.
”He’s a special kind of competitor,” manager Gabe Kapler said. ”He’s fun to watch.”
Nola left after striking out Ian Desmond with runners on first and third. Edubray Ramos entered and gave up a bloop RBI single to Tom Murphy before recording the third out. Tommy Hunter tossed a scoreless eighth. But Luis Garcia allowed four consecutive singles to start the ninth. He departed after Murphy’s RBI single cut it to 5-2.
Dominguez entered and gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Chris Iannetta. DJ LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly cut it to 5-4. But right fielder Aaron Altherr ran down Charlie Blackmon’s hard liner for the second out and Dominguez struck out Nolan Arenado to end it.
”I was thankful to get the job done,” Dominguez said.
Kapler called Altherr’s running catch a ”game-saver.”
”That play was sensational,” he said.
Kingery drove a 1-2 pitch from Jon Gray (6-7) out to left-center to give the Phillies a 3-0 lead in the first. He added a sacrifice fly in the third.
Gray surrendered four runs on only three hits in six innings. He also fanned 10.
”I had no rhythm early and it cost me,” Gray said.
Jesmuel Valentin’s pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth extended Philadelphia’s lead to 5-1.
The Phillies have won two in a row for the first time since a three-game winning streak May 13-17.
The Rockies have lost five straight and nine of 11.
After starting at five positions, Kingery has taken over as Philadelphia’s regular shortstop despite batting only .215. J.P. Crawford has moved to third base since returning from the disabled list and has started five straight games instead of Maikel Franco.
”It’s been a process,” Kingery said. ”Just trying to go step by step to where I feel better in the box.”
WHIFFS
This was the first time a Phillies starter and opposing starter each struck out 10 or more in the same game since April 25, 2011
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TRAINER’S ROOM
Rockies: OF Carlos Gonzalez was back in the lineup after missing two games with a rib issue. … RHP Adam Ottavino threw a live batting practice session. He has been sidelined by a left oblique strain.
Phillies: RHP Jerad Eickhoff received a cortisone shot in his right wrist on Monday. Eickhoff hasn’t pitched this season. … Reliever Pat Neshek threw a bullpen session Tuesday. He began the season on the DL with a shoulder strain and sustained a flexor strain in his elbow during rehab. … Utilityman Pedro Florimon could return in September after breaking his right foot during the team’s recent road trip.
UP NEXT
RHP Nick Pivetta (4-5, 3.76 ERA) starts for the Phillies while LHP Tyler Anderson (3-1, 4.81) goes for the Rockies in the middle game Wednesday night.
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CHICAGO — Jon Lester may be having the best season of his career and the timing couldn’t have been better for the Chicago Cubs.
While the starting rotation has experienced its share of issues and the Cubs have struggled to find consistency, Lester has been more than steady. Lester takes a 10-2 mark into his 17th start of the season Sunday when the Cubs attempt to finish off a three-game sweep of the Minnesta Twins at Wrigley Field.
Lester has won six straight starts and allowed four runs in his five starts in June, which bodes well for a team that won its third straight game after Saturday’s 14-9 back-and-forth victory over the Twins.
Lester threw 119 pitches — a sign that at age 34 he has plenty of good work left in him — two starts back. He had thrown 106 pitches in six innings when manager Joe Maddon elected to keep Lester on the mound.
“At that point, what’s 15 or 20 more pitches,” Lester told reporters, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Said Maddon: “Jon gave what we needed.”
Lester has provided consistency while fellow starters Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood have struggled and Yu Darvish has battled injury. Lester will attempt to keep rolling Sunday against the Twins, against whom he is 3-4 with a 3.66 ERA in 12 career starts.
The Twins continued to struggle Saturday and lost for the seventh time in their last nine games. For the second straight day, Minnesota blew leads as the Cubs rallied from behind twice before scoring five runs in the seventh inning to snap a 9-9 tie.
Minnesota’s bullpen allowed 10 runs and for the second straight day the Twins were unable to match the Cubs’ offense, which pounded out 20 hits on a day when the temperatures were in the 90s and the heat index registered 107 degrees.
The Twins lost left fielder Eddie Rosario
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“When the conditions are like that, you do the best you can to prepare them with nutrition and hydration and all those things, but it overtook three of our guys today,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told reporters. “So it was just tough.”
Twins right-hander Lance Lynn will take the mound against a team he is familiar with from his days with the St. Louis Cardinals. Lynn enters Sunday’s start with a 5-6 record and a 4.81 ERA. He allowed five runs (four earned) and struck out eight in his last start against the Chicago White Sox.
Lynn is 6-6 with a 4.06 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) against the Cubs.
Lynn will try to bounce back from an outing in which he had a lead but couldn’t pitch out of trouble in his final inning.
“It’s frustrating, especially with the way things had been going all night. I had eight strikeouts in five and you’ve got 8-9 up, bases are loaded, even though it’s been kind of a funky inning, you want to have that chance,” Lynn told the team’s official website. “But with the way things had unfolded that inning, you get it. We’re trying to win the game.”