By Rowan Kavner
FOX Sports MLB Writer
The most obvious advantage entering the Wild-Card Series for the No. 6 seed Philadelphia Phillies against the division-winning St. Louis Cardinals was their front-line starting pitching.
In a series sweep, Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola demonstrated why.
Wheeler fired 6⅓ scoreless innings in Game 1, Nola followed with 6⅔ scoreless innings in Game 2, and the Phillies’ first postseason appearance in 11 years will continue on to the National League Division Series after Saturday’s 2-0 win at Busch Stadium.
In what were likely the final at-bats of their storied careers, Albert Pujols singled in the eighth inning, and Yadier Molina did the same in the ninth. The Cardinals couldn’t scratch home a run either time, bringing an unceremonious end to the careers of the St. Louis legends.
"Two of the best to ever play the game, especially at their positions," Bryce Harper, who homered to start the scoring Saturday, said before celebrating his team’s win. "They’re going to be first-ballot Hall of Fame players. The game’s going to miss those two guys."
The only other run of the game was manufactured in the fifth inning, when Alec Bohm doubled, moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a sacrifice fly.
MLB Playoffs: Phillies advance to NLDS
Ben Verlander and Alex Curry react to the Philadelphia Phillies' winning their first playoff series since 2010 and discuss the emotions of Albert Pujols' and Yadier Molina's final game.
What went right for the Phillies
The Phillies can mash with the best of them, but it was their pitching that carried them through to the next round.
St. Louis had no answers for Nola, who got a combined 28 called strikes and whiffs on his 101 pitches, and Philadelphia’s maligned bullpen pulled together to hold the Cardinals scoreless for the final 2⅓ innings.
The Phillies bullpen was one of just four relief groups in the majors with an ERA over 5.00 from September through the end of the regular season, but José Alvarado was the star of the unit late in the year. He posted a 0.43 ERA with a .118 opponents’ batting average in his final 22 regular-season appearances. Alvarado allowed two runs in the first game of the Wild-Card Series, but the Phillies still turned to him for two outs after Nola’s departure.
Then came Seranthony Domínguez, who had been one of the Phillies’ best high-leverage options before stumbling late in the season coming off triceps tendinitis. Walks had been a troubling issue for Domínguez, but he buckled down when the Cardinals put the tying run at the plate in the eighth and extinguished the threat.
Zach Eflin, a starter much of the year, has become the Phillies' de facto closer. He finished the Game 1 victory and earned the save in Game 2, stranding the tying runs on base by getting Tommy Edman to pop out.
What went wrong for the Cardinals
St. Louis’ surge to overtake Milwaukee in the NL Central was keyed by an offense that ranked second in the majors in OPS and wRC+ in the season’s second half, yet the Cardinals mustered just three runs in the series and went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the two games.
Their most reliable sluggers never got going. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado combined to go 1-for-7 in Game 1 and 0-for-8 in Game 2. Each had a chance to make a mark in the eighth inning. After Edman grounded out, Lars Nootbaar walked. Domínguez entered to face Pujols, who ripped a single down the third-base line. Domínguez then struck out both Goldschmidt and Arenado to thwart the Cardinals’ best chance to strike.
Key moment of the game
Harper hadn’t looked like his normal self since coming back from a fractured left thumb that cost him two months of the season. The Phillies superstar slashed .196/.288/.327 with three homers from the start of September through the end of the regular season, lowering his OPS from .985 to .877.
But his swing on a hanging breaking ball from Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas in the second inning didn’t look to be impacted.
Harper pulled a 435-foot no-doubter to right field. The blast hit 111.6 mph off his bat, making it his third-hardest hit home run of the season, and zapped the energy from a crowd on tilt after the previous night’s ninth-inning meltdown.
What happens next
It’ll be an East clash in the NLDS, as the Phillies move on to face the Braves.
A sweep allowed the Phillies to save Ranger Suarez, so it’s likely he’ll start Game 1 in Atlanta. That would allow for Wheeler to start Game 2 on normal rest, with Nola to follow.
Postseason baseball is returning to Citizens Bank Park for the first time since the 2011 NLDS.
Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports. He previously was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
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