Nick Castellanos' home run robbery aided Aaron Nola in an eight-inning gem as the Phillies won in Houston, where they haven't forgotten the feelings of November.
"To say that we all don't understand what happened here last year would be a lie. We know. We just had their mascot stick their World Series ring in our face on the Jumbotron. I don't know about everybody else, but I pay attention to that stuff."
He did it with slightly diminished stuff. Nola's four-seam fastball averaged 91.7 mph, about one mph slower than last season. His sinker averaged 90.8. In the first inning, his heater was 1.4 mph slower than it was in the first inning a season ago. After the Peña homer, Nola retired 11 in a row. He made pitches when he needed to, he picked up six outs quickly in his final two innings and he didn't walk a batter after issuing six free passes in his last two starts.
Nola's length was especially important on a night when Craig Kimbrel and Seranthony Dominguez were unavailable after pitching in back-to-back games.Jose Alvarado, who gave up the three-run home run to Yordan Alvarez that won the Astros the World Series the last time he was on this mound, pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save.
Pache was removed for Brandon Marsh, who singled in Sosa after Sosa's second double off Valdez two innings later.Schwarber's first-inning home run was his second in a row against Valdez after taking him deep in the sixth inning of Game 6 last November. Lefties have hit just four home runs off of Valdez the last two seasons and Schwarber has two of them.
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